People wearing face masks walk on a street in Hong Kong
(Picture: AP)Hong Kong is set to introduce a stringent system of tracking bracelets and heath codes for people who test positive with Covid to make sure they isolate.
The Chinese-style system, due to be introduced Friday, will mean those testing positive and quarantining at home will be tracked to make sure they do not leave.
It will feature health codes similar to those used in mainland China, meaning those with a red code have completely restricted movement, those with yellow partially restricted movement, and a green code will give people freedom of movement.
“We have to make sure that home isolation is more precise while being humane,” Lo Chung-mau, the city’s health secretary said.
Lo said a yellow code, given to those who have been in close contact with a positive case, could allow residents to go to work but bar them from high-risk places such as elderly care homes.
He added: “We hope that we will be able to enforce the home quarantine in a more effective way and try to prevent these people from causing community outbreak.”
Residents arriving into Hong Kong from overseas will be able to isolate at home after a set period in hotel quarantine under this system, Lo said, without giving further details.
All arrivals into Hong Kong are still required to do one week of hotel quarantine and comply with frequent testing orders.
Some experts have warned the system could incentivise people to not report Covid results.
Ben Cowling, chair professor of epidemiology at the University of Hong Kong’s School of Public Health, told the Guardian future stats may not fully reflect cases as a result.
“It may be in a week or two, it’s lower, not because transmission has gone down, but because people are not reporting,” he said.
Hong Kong recorded more than 2,800 cases on Monday, as well as seven deaths.
Breaking quarantine orders in Hong Kong can be punished with a fine of up to HK$25,000 (£2,700) and up to six months in jail.
Hong Kong has previously used two types of bracelets to track people under home quarantine at the beginning of the pandemic.
