Recently, the number of confirmed cases has exceeded 4,000 for several consecutive days. The government is studying the introduction of "red and yellow codes" and relaxation of entry quarantine arrangements.
The New Youth Forum conducted random telephone interviews with 548 Hong Kong citizens over the age of 18 from July 25 to 29, and found that citizens tend to support the "4+3" entry quarantine plan and the new "red, yellow and green code" system.
The organization suggested that if Hong Kong follows Singapore's example, customs clearance with overseas countries will not be a problem, and believes that as long as the number of confirmed cases in Hong Kong drops, coupled with further tightening of epidemic prevention measures, there will be opportunities to clear customs with the mainland.
Citizens hope to relax the entry quarantine plan and retain the existing epidemic prevention measures
According to the survey, more than 60% of citizens tend to support schools continuing to arrange daily rapid antigen testing, as well as the government maintaining the existing epidemic prevention measures such as quarantine and quarantine measures, so as to prevent potential infected people from bringing the virus to the community.
However, about 70% of the citizens expect the government to relax the entry restrictions for foreigners; when asked if they would like to choose 5-day or 4-day hotel quarantine, compared with the "5+2" plan, the "5+2" plan requires fewer days of staying in hotels for quarantine. The 4+3" plan has gained more support.
55% of people support the implementation of "red, yellow and green codes" to limit the scope of activities of people with "yellow codes"
According to the survey, nearly 55% of people support the implementation of the real-name system and the addition of "red, yellow and green codes" for "travel with ease"; , and expanded the "yellow code" to include close contacts.
Chen Weiqiang, consultant of the New Youth Forum, said that the government needs to make some "efforts" when defining close contacts, so as to be able to effectively prevent the epidemic, but not to disturb the people too much.
No problem with overseas customs clearance
It has been pointed out that the government is considering customs clearance with overseas countries first, and then it will consider quarantine-free customs clearance with the mainland. New Youth Forum consultant Chen Weiqiang believes that if Hong Kong follows Singapore's example, customs clearance with overseas countries will not be a problem.
Chen Weiqiang said | Hong Kong's epidemic prevention method is different from the mainland's "dynamic clearing", which is closer to the western epidemic prevention method, so it is difficult to resume customs clearance with the mainland, but he pointed out that the mainland's epidemic prevention through Shanghai is expected to relax Hong Kong's epidemic prevention attitude. As long as the number of confirmed cases in Hong Kong drops, coupled with further tightening of epidemic prevention measures, there will be an opportunity to clear customs with the mainland.
Deng Yongjun, the convener of the New Youth Forum, suggested that the government introduce an expert group on epidemic prevention from the mainland to deepen communication with Shenzhen to speed up customs clearance with the mainland.
