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Coronavirus pandemic
Hong KongHealth & Environment

Hong Kong fourth wave: hotel quarantine for overseas arrivals extended to 21 days from current 14 amid fears of new variants, as city records 71 Covid-19 cases

  • Health officials appeal to people to avoid large gatherings, pointing to cases surfacing just days after winter solstice get-togethers
  • Latest coronavirus caseload included 61 locally transmitted infections, of which 30 were untraceable

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Hongkongers should avoid large social gatherings, health officials say. Photo: SOPA Images via ZUMA Wire/dpa
Danny Lee,Gigi Choy,Kathleen MagramoandChris Lau

All overseas arrivals into Hong Kong will have to quarantine in designated hotels for 21 days, starting from Friday – up from the current 14 days – as city authorities further tightened control measures in their bid to contain the fourth wave of coronavirus infections.

The only travellers exempted are those coming in from China, Macau and Taiwan, who will continue having to serve home quarantine for 14 days.

With a new variant of the virus reported to have surfaced in South Africa, Hong Kong authorities are also banning those who have stayed in that country for more than two hours within 21 days of boarding flights to the city.

In a statement late on Thursday, the government said that even though the incubation period for the coronavirus was 14 days, experts believed a small number of infected people could present symptoms after a longer time frame.

“[The new measures are] required to ensure that even if the incubation period of the virus exceeds 14 days in a very rare case, it will not become a fish that slips through the net,” a government spokesman said.

The new 21-day mandatory hotel quarantine period for arrivals from places other than Greater China matches the restrictions earlier placed on passengers from Britain, although flights from that country are currently banned from Hong Kong in a bid to shut out a more infectious strain of the virus.
Residents of an infected block at a Sha Tin estate were greeted by an unexpected Covid-19 checkpoint on Christmas Eve morning. Photo: Xiaomei Chen
Residents of an infected block at a Sha Tin estate were greeted by an unexpected Covid-19 checkpoint on Christmas Eve morning. Photo: Xiaomei Chen
Earlier on Thursday, health officials warned that family and social gatherings over the festive season could trigger more Covid-19 clusters, citing how related cases were surfacing just days after the winter solstice celebrations, as Hong Kong recorded two more deaths and 71 virus cases.
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