By The SUN
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| HK opens up to the world by allowing tourists to come in |
Starting on May 1,
non-residents will be allowed to enter Hong Kong, while rules for suspending
flights that bring in passengers who test positive for Covid-19 will be eased.
Incoming flights will be suspended for just five days instead of a week, and they must bring in at least five passengers who test positive on arrival, instead of the current three.
In addition, a rapid test will be conducted on arriving passengers on top of the RT-PCR one so they can be taken to their quarantine hotel more quickly if they test negative.
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The new measures were announced by the government through a press release issued late on Friday, after health authorities reported 574 new Covid-19 cases, down by around 50 compared with the previous day.
Among the new cases, 11were imported and included four passengers who flew in from Australia on flight CX100 on Wednesday. As a result, the flight operated by Cathay Pacific has been grounded for a week.
The cases also included
a 38-year-old Indonesia domestic helper who arrived on Apr 8 and tested positive
on the 12th day after she had finished her seven-day hotel
quarantine and moved in with her employer.
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Dr Albert Au of the
Centre for Health Protection said the helper had a low viral load, and both she
and her employer’s family showed no symptoms. The CHP said it appeared to be a
re-positive case.
Au also said around 20
students taking their university entrance exams had been sent to Penny’s Bay
quarantine center, either because they or their family members are infected.
He said another report
of a student preparing to attend in-person lessons for the first time tested
positive for Covid-19 but the pupil had not been to school recently.
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Another 15 patients with Covid were reported to have passed away, raising the total death toll in the fifth wave of the pandemic to 9,014.
In its statement, the government said non-residents who arrive in Hong Kong will have to meet the same requirements as arriving residents.They need to present a valid vaccination record, a negative result for a PCR test conducted within 48 hours of boarding their flight, and confirmation of a seven-day stay at a designated quarantine hotel.
Passengers who test negative on rapid test will be taken to their quarantine hotels immediately
The government said the
new arrangements aim to minimize risks coming from imported cases while making
it easier for Hong Kong-bound travellers to reserve flights and hotels.
It is also a response to
the need of residents to return home, and the demands from relevant sectors.
A government steering committee reportedly monitored
inbound flights and passenger flow since Apr 1 when a flight ban on nine
countries was lifted, and found that the proportion of imported cases had
actually decreased, instead of increased.
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While the number of
inbound passengers surged to 1,200 from fewer than 300 in the two months before
the lifting of the ban, the number of imported cases dropped to just one
percent of the total from the previous 3 percent.
The ban on tourists or
non-residents has been in place for more than a year, or since Mar 25, 2020.
The government said the
ban is now being lifted because the public health risk associated with non-HK
residents is the same as that of residents coming from the same place.
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In addition, tourists
will be subject to the same health protocols imposed on arriving residents,
while the number of hotel rooms will help limit the number of inbound
passengers,
For details on the
boarding, quarantine and testing arrangements for all inbound passengers, check
the government’s thematic website: www.coronavirus.gov.hk/eng/inbound-travel.html
Meanwhile, the flight
suspension rules were eased after the government took note of the view of
various sectors that the previous triggers were too harsh that from Apr 1 to 20
alone, 25 flights were barred from flying in for a week.
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This in turn upset the plans of many residents
planning to return home, “and severely affected the operations of airlines,”
said the statement.
Recent reports suggested many airlines had refused
to resume flying to Hong Kong because of the uncertainties posed by the flight
suspensions.
The new rules provide
that a flight will be suspended for five days if (1) five or more of its passengers
or five percent of the total number of passengers test positive on arrival
test, or (2) three or more passengers test positive on arrival and one or more
is found not to have complied with pre-boarding requirements.
Meanwhile the addition
of RAT to the “test-and-hold arrangement” at the airport is meant to shorten
the waiting time of inbound passengers at the airport to reduce crowd gathering
while maintaining strict rules to prevent the importation of cases.
All arriving travellers will
have to take the RAT and PCR tests at the same time, and if the rapid test
produces a negative result, the person will be immediately transferred to the
quarantine hotel through designated transport.
Should the PCR test yields a positive result afterwards, the traveller will be moved to an isolation facility.
