The government announced yesterday (8th) that the number of hotel quarantine days for people arriving in Hong Kong from overseas or Taiwan will be changed to "3+4", that is, 3 days of hotel quarantine and 4 days of home medical monitoring, and will cooperate with the "red and yellow code" system. It will be implemented from the fifth (12th).
According to reports from various parties, the current government has planned the quarantine arrangement from before taking office to last week, and the planned quarantine arrangement is "5+2" or "4+3", and the final plan is more aggressive than originally expected. was pleasantly surprised.
It has also been pointed out that the government's direct implementation of "3+4" based on science will greatly help Hong Kong to reconnect with the international community. By the time the two international events are held in November this year, it will be advanced to "0+7", which means that hotels are completely exempted. The chances of quarantine are greatly improved.
"Expectation Management" Successful?
Politics and business are pleasantly surprised by the number of quarantine days
In fact, long before the current government took office, the Director of the Medical and Health Bureau, Lu Chongmao, took the lead in "releasing the wind" in late June. In his interview, he said that he was considering reducing the number of hotel quarantine days to 5 days or less.
In the following month or so, the news received by the major media all swirled between "5+2" and "4+3", depending on the government's review of the data of confirmed cases of tourists arriving in Hong Kong from other places, balancing risk and convenience After the decision was made, few people mentioned the more aggressive "3+4" plan. The latest plan announced by the government can be said to be "reasonable but unexpected".
Lu Chongmao explained at yesterday's press conference that about 4% of people arriving in Hong Kong from overseas or Taiwan are currently diagnosed, and half of them can be found at the airport. An extra 4 days of quarantine is not cost-effective and will affect Hong Kong's connection to the world. This is a decision made after reviewing scientific data.
As soon as the "3+4" plan came out, Executive Council member and Pakatan Harapan Lin Jianfeng said that it was "overjoyed" for the business community and the public, and believed that it would help the recovery of the tourism industry; the chairman of the Manufacturers' Association, Shi Lide, also expressed that he was very happy with the government's decision. surprise.
Legislative Council members with a business background even jokingly pointed out that this may be a bit of "expectation management", and the final announced plan was more relaxed than expected, which surprised everyone.
"5+2" was originally only a preliminary idea
A person familiar with the matter revealed to the author that he had personally learned from Chief Executive Li Jiachao himself that when Lu Chongmao proposed the "5+2" quarantine arrangement from the end of June to early July, this was only his preliminary idea, not the government's position. It still takes time to review the data, and Li Jiachao did not discuss it with experts at that time.
Therefore, the "5+2" and "4+3" rumored in the market are only speculation, and Li Jiachao has not made a final decision.
Of course, this objectively has the effect of "expectation management", which surprises the political and business circles, but this is not the Government's original intention.
Ip Lau Suk-yee, Convenor of the Executive Council, said that, as the Chief Executive pointed out, there have always been different speculations, and it is inconvenient to comment. She also quoted Lo Chongmao as saying that the government's "3+4" arrangement is based on data, and balances risk management and control. Necessary for ease of doing business.
Tian Beichen.
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Tian Beichen: A big step has been taken, the next step can be directly exempted from hotel quarantine
With the relaxation of entry quarantine, the immediate impact that can be expected is an increase in the willingness of Hong Kong citizens to travel abroad, which will also help attract overseas people to Hong Kong, of which the latter is the most concerned by the government.
Among them, Hong Kong will hold a large-scale financial summit and the International Rugby Sevens in November, and a large number of people will come to Hong Kong from other places. the "dead line".
Tian Beichen, a member of the Legislative Council of the Real Politics Roundtable, said that the strict quarantine policy in the past period has led to a brain drain. Coupled with the "fueling the fire" of competitors such as Singapore, more new policies have been introduced to attract investment and permanent residence. These talents and funds may In the long run, Hong Kong's competitiveness will be severely challenged. "3+4" is definitely the right direction. It not only helps to integrate with overseas, but it is not "flattening" and can explain something to the mainland.
Tian Beichen pointed out that "3+4" is far from "5+2", and the latter has the feeling of "no soup and no water".
He believes that there are still three months before the two international events in November. As long as the government can confirm during this period that the "0+7" risk will not increase significantly, or the number of imported confirmed cases will not affect the overall situation, absolutely Conditional transition to "0+7" will completely exempt hotel quarantine restrictions, further increasing Hong Kong's attractiveness to overseas arrivals.
He described: "If it's '5+2', then another step of '3+4' will be taken. Now skipping it directly, the pace is faster than expected, which proves that Li Jiachao is quite determined to connect to the world."
Hotel quarantine "3+4" From Tuesday, yellow codes will be issued to arrivals in Hong Kong. All confirmed cases in Hong Kong will be listed as red codes 3+4 hotel quarantines｜Red and yellow codes will be implemented on Friday. Book a route map, cancel the epidemic prevention restrictions for crew members and passengers
