Coronavirus: Hong Kong lifts all restrictions on arrivals, ending ‘0+3’ regime, but keeps vaccine pass scheme
- Arrivals from Wednesday who test negative will no longer need an amber health code and can enter restaurants and other premises previously off limits to them
- New approach to be followed by even larger changes at national level before Lunar New Year holiday next month, sources say
Key points:
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From Wednesday, no more amber health code for arrivals, who can roam freely in the city if they test negative
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Residents will not be required to use the risk-exposure ‘Leave Home Safe’ app in all premises, but proof of vaccination will be required for entry to designated venues
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Compulsory PCR tests issued to residential buildings will be reduced. Only staff in hospitals and nursing homes will be required to undergo PCR tests. Workers in other occupations can opt for rapid antigen tests
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No more checkpoint PCR test required for cross-border travellers entering Macau and mainland China
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Infected people will not be given electronic wristbands
The new approach, announced by authorities on Tuesday, would be followed by even larger changes at the national level before the Lunar New Year holiday beginning on January 22 next year, several sources told the Post. Under a “0+3” model, travellers to mainland China would no longer be required to undergo five days of quarantine and instead only have to observe three days of medical surveillance, they added.
Two well-placed insiders said the mainland would allow Hong Kong businessmen and students to cross the border starting next week, separate from an existing quota of 2,000 travellers, and the city would resume high-speed rail service to Guangdong province to cope with the expected demand in the coming weeks.
In revealing the latest relaxations, which take effect on Wednesday, Hong Kong leader John Lee Ka-chiu pointed to the decreasing danger imported infections posed to the community.