Officials at a Covid-19 testing station in Hong Kong
(Picture: AFP via Getty Images)Hong Kong will reduce quarantine for travellers from 21 days to 14 days next week but flights from the UK will still be banned.
City officials said the quarantine cut to two weeks would apply from February 5, with travellers from more than 160 countries expected to “self-monitor” for the following seven days.
People will be able to go outside during the final week but they must take mandatory tests on two days of that week.
Currently, holidaymakers are required to spend three weeks in designated quarantine hotels and must meet the costs themselves.
The tough zero Covid rules have reduced flights to Hong Kong by as much as 90 per cent.
The city’s flight ban from locations including the UK, the US, Australia and the Philippines will continue at least until February 18, said chief executive Carrie Lam.
Announcing the changes, she said: “It is not because of pressure from anybody. It’s just because of science...That Omicron has a relatively short incubation period.”
Schools, playgrounds, gyms and most venues are shut in the city while tens of thousands of people must do daily coronavirus tests.
Ms Lam said citywide restrictions would be extended until February 17 while schools will not resume face-to-face classes until February 21.
Thursday’s 164 new infections were a record since the pandemic started in 2020, the fifth day of new cases being recorded in triple digits after an outbreak linked to a housing estate.
The city’s leader said Hong Kong needs to raise its vaccination rate to around 90% from 70% currently before authorities can consider changing current policies.
"I cannot stand seeing a lot of people dying in my hospitals so we will try our best to raise our vaccination rate,” she said.
