Hong Kong announced Friday it will end mandatory hotel quarantine, scrapping
some of the world's toughest travel restrictions, which battered the economy
and kept the finance hub internationally isolated.
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The long-awaited move brings relief to residents and businesses clamouring
for the city to rejoin the rest of the world in resuming unhindered travel and
living with Covid-19 -- though many pandemic restrictions remain.
For the past two and a half years Hong Kong has adhered to a version of
China's strict zero-Covid rules, deepening a brain drain as rivals reopened.
The announcement leaves mainland China as the only major economy still
hewing to lengthy quarantine for international arrivals.
Chief Executive John Lee said the current three days of hotel quarantine
would be reduced to zero for those arriving from overseas.
From September 26, travellers will be subject to PCR tests on arrival and
will be unable to visit restaurants and bars for the first three days under a
system authorities have dubbed "0+3".
"Under this arrangement, the quarantine hotel system will be
cancelled," Lee told reporters.
But strict pandemic rules will stay in place, including social distancing
restrictions, mandatory mask wearing and digital health codes to enter public
venues.
Overseas arrivals will also need further PCR tests on days two, four and six
in the city.
Tourists who test positive face being isolated in hotel rooms at their own
expense. Most residents can isolate at home, but those who cannot may be sent
to government facilities.
Group gatherings of more than four people in public remain banned.
Authorities also said they were lifting quotas on arrivals from mainland
China -- but those going in the opposite direction must still quarantine under
Beijing's strict zero-Covid rules.
- Recession -
Hong Kong once boasted one of the world's busiest airports, but passenger
numbers this year are just 3.8 percent of pre-pandemic levels.
The government faced mounting pressure from residents, business leaders and
even some of its own public health advisers to end quarantine, especially after
Covid tore through the city at the start of the year.
Since that wave, the number of local infections far outstripped those coming
in from overseas.
At its peak, quarantine lasted as long as 21 days, and about 113,000
residents have left the city since mid-2021.
The economic toll has been severe.
The city is currently in a technical recession -- two consecutive quarters
of negative growth.
Finance chief Paul Chan has warned Hong Kong's fiscal deficit is
expected to balloon to HK$100 billion ($12.7 billion) this year, twice initial
estimates.
"For Hong Kong to truly regain competitiveness vis-a-vis other cities
around the world, the announcement is not enough; Hong Kong should be totally
connected to the world without hindrance," said local AmCham president
Eden Woon.
- Travel rush -
The websites of both Cathay Pacific and its low-cost wing HK Express saw
delays as customers rushed to make bookings.
But it is unlikely Hong Kong will see a sudden flurry of mass tourism.
Many global airlines have reduced routes or stopped flying to the
city.
Cathay currently supplies about 45 percent of seats into and out of the
city, but had previously warned it will only be able to increase routes by
one-third this year because of the difficulties in finding staff and
planes.
Cathay said it would add "more than 200 pairs
of passenger flights" in October to both regional and long-haul
destinations.
Many of its unused aircraft have been parked in the dry climate of interior
Australia to better preserve them.
- Rivals reopened -
Although it stuck to China's zero-Covid rules, Hong Kong's experience of the
pandemic was not the same as the mainland's.
Like China, Singapore, New Zealand and Taiwan, Hong Kong's travel curbs
helped stamp out the virus in 2020 as the pandemic left a wave of death across
much of the rest of the globe.
But as an international hub, Hong Kong struggled to keep the virus out
indefinitely and could not deploy the kind of city-wide lockdowns used on the
authoritarian mainland.
The Omicron variant ripped through mostly unvaccinated elderly victims,
overwhelming hospitals that were not adequately prepared.
Despite the tough travel curbs and social distancing rules, Hong Kong had
one of the world's highest per capita fatality rates, with nearly 10,000 deaths
in a population of 7.4 million.
Taiwan, which said Thursday it would end quarantine rules in mid-October,
has a similar number of deaths but its population is three times the size.
Hong Kong's approach stood in stark contrast to financial rivals such as
London, Singapore, New York and Tokyo, which steadily reopened this year.
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