Coronavirus: Hong Kong leader says sudden reversal of quarantine policy for residents returning from mainland China ‘not forced by outside pressure’

Chief Executive Carrie Lam says policy was adjusted only when it became apparent how many ‘Return2HK’ travellers were losing quarantine exemptions

Her predecessor CY Leung criticised the original arrangements, which designated all of Guangdong province as higher risk for Covid-19 on the basis of one infection

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The first city residents cross the border under the Return2HK scheme, which allows for quarantine-free travel. Photo: K.Y. Cheng

Published: 1:08pm, 25 May 2021Updated: 11:48pm, 25 May 2021

Hong Kong’s leader on Tuesday insisted her abrupt reversal of Covid-19 rules suspending quarantine-free travel for large numbers of city residents returning from mainland China was not driven by outside pressure, describing it as merely a policy tweak.

The government only concluded that designating all of neighbouring Guangdong province as higher risk for the coronavirus under the “Return2HK” scheme was disproportionate when the scale of the policy’s impact on Hongkongers came to light last Saturday, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said.

Under the original arrangements, whole provinces and municipalities could be categorised as medium- or high-risk areas based on the emergence of just one new infection, forcing those previously eligible to return to Hong Kong without undergoing quarantine to isolate for 14 days.

In a softening of the approach, the risk levels for the Return2HK scheme will instead match those set by mainland China, which have been imposed on far more localised areas such as a single building.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam meets the media on Tuesday. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Before the policy change, Hong Kong used a province or municipality as a precise unit for an area of medium or high risk. By drastically reducing the size of the mainland areas deemed higher risk, many Return2HK travellers who would be required to undergo compulsory quarantine under the old system did not need to self-isolate at a designated hotel for two weeks.