Hong Kong to shorten quarantine imposed on tourists

It's a small step.

Hong Kong will reduce the mandatory hotel quarantine from one week to three days for people arriving from overseas, the city's chief executive John Lee announced on Monday.

From Friday August 12, 2022, travelers from overseas will be required to spend three nights in one of the government-designated quarantine hotels, before monitoring their health at home or at a hotel of their choice. for four days, he said.

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Formerly an Asian crossroads in terms of transport and logistics, Hong Kong has been cut off from the world for more than two years due to a draconian health policy in line with China's "zero Covid" strategy.

Applying some of the strictest health measures in the world, Hong Kong imposes, until August 12, a seven-day quarantine at the hotel punctuated by several screenings for travelers arriving from abroad.

Read alsoCovid-19: where to travel this month of August?

Map of restrictions by country

Sanitary tracing and color coding

The business community has complained about this policy which prevents employees from going abroad.

John Lee rejected the idea that this relaxation would mean a break with Chinese policy.

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" he said.

Alongside these new quarantine rules, Hong Kong will set up a health QR code system similar to the tracking application set up by the Beijing government.

With this system, an infected person will receive a red code preventing them from leaving their isolation.

People arriving from abroad will have a yellow code at the end of their three days in the hotel and access to certain places such as restaurants, bars and cinemas will be prohibited during the four days of self-monitoring.