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Rumors in the political circles︱Events are frequently withdrawn in September, and the relaxation to "0+7" is in sight? MPs say three packages are needed

2022-09-19T11:02:02.380Z


When the government will relax the entry quarantine restrictions for overseas arrivals to "0+7", it has become a concern of the political and business circles. Recently, a series of international sports events in Hong Kong have been unable to be held due to the epidemic prevention policy.


When the government will relax the entry quarantine restrictions for overseas arrivals to "0+7" has become the focus of the political and business circles. Recently, a series of international sports events in Hong Kong cannot be held due to the epidemic prevention policy, which has become a catalyst for the government to consider early "customs clearance".

Some members of the Legislative Council bluntly stated that the SAR government has not yet chosen the matter. It is believed that there is a good chance that the authorities will announce the specific arrangements for "0+7" in September, but there are still many packages that need to be prepared in advance.


▼The Standard Chartered Marathon will resume on October 24, 2021▼


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Activities are frequently cancelled or moved to other places, and the spoof picture of "Lee Hsien Loong laughing" spreads wildly on the Internet

At present, the government has three main concerns about the relaxation of the epidemic prevention policy: the load of public hospitals, the prevention of severe and fatal cases, and the issue of customs clearance with the mainland. variable.

The Hong Kong government plans to hold the Financial Summit Forum and the International Rugby Sevens in November. The outside world is generally regarded as the highlight of Hong Kong's re-connection with the world. It is hoped that the government will put forward specific plans in the Policy Address next month or even at the end of September at the latest.

However, developments in recent days have acted as a catalyst to accelerate the government's relaxation of the quarantine.

First, the Athletics Federation announced the cancellation of the Standard Chartered Marathon, but the Singaporean Marathon was held as scheduled in December; then the International Dragon Boat Federation passed the World Dragon Boat Championships in August next year, which will be moved from Hong Kong to Thailand to be held.

It was also reported yesterday that Royal Caribbean International will abandon plans to re-launch high seas cruises in Hong Kong due to too long waiting for approval from health authorities.

All kinds of incidents point to Hong Kong's domestic and foreign epidemic prevention policies at the same time.

In the past two days, a spoof picture has also been circulating on social networks. In the picture, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is smiling quite happily. His father, the late former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, even laughed in the columbarium. Even the famous landmark of Singapore, the Merlion statue. "Laughing".

That is a satire of the Hong Kong government's delay in loosening the epidemic prevention restrictions, which led to the event organizers abandoning Hong Kong one after another, and Singapore, which cleared customs early in the morning, reaps the benefits of the fisherman.

It is reported that the government also attaches great importance to the above situation, and there are voices who agree that this development will definitely be detrimental to Hong Kong's competitiveness. Therefore, the Secretary for Medical and Health, Lu Chongmao, also relaxed on the radio program recently, saying that the Hong Kong government is actively considering relaxing the " 0+7", you can even relax early.

Tian Beichen: The government has considered the final details and advocated using the quick test after arriving in Hong Kong

Tian Beichen, a member of the Legislative Council of the Real Politics Roundtable, quoted figures on social media this afternoon, saying that in the past few weeks, the number of imported cases in Hong Kong has declined, both in terms of the rate and the actual number.

He expressed to the author that he believes that the government has a good chance of announcing further relaxation to "0+7" in September, and it is not up to the SAR government to choose, especially after a series of recent events, "large-scale sports events have been suspended once, and there will be more in the future. There is an opportunity to return to Hong Kong, but once the talent is lost, it will never come back at any time, even if the return is the fastest, it will be a few years later.”

Tian Beichen said that Hong Kong is moving towards "0+7" and at least two packages need to be prepared. One is the airport testing arrangement: at present, passengers who land at the airport must undergo nucleic acid testing (PCR) and rapid testing, and the rapid testing is negative. Then you can go to the hotel and wait for the PCR results.

However, if it is changed to "0+7" in the future, as the number of passengers increases, there will not be enough samplers to sample them one by one at the airport, otherwise it will cause administrative confusion. Therefore, it must be changed to rapid test, and then during the 7-day medical surveillance period , go to the designated location regularly, and conduct a quick test under the supervision of the staff.

"Because the drop-off has been changed to a quick test, after the 7th day, it is even more impossible to go back and do PCR. As far as I know, the government and the family have already worked out the final details, and they are also arranged for drop-off testing. Breathing is the hardest to think about and the most headache.”

Tian Beichen expects that after the relaxation of "0+7", airport arrivals must be simplified and only quick tests will be done.

(File photo/Information Service)

It is expected to be announced together with the cancellation of the pre-flight PCR arrangement

The second is related to testing standards.

Tian Beichen explained that because the sensitivity of the quick test is not as good as that of the nucleic acid test after all, some patients with low viral load may not be able to be detected. Therefore, if the standard for outsiders is changed to accept the quick test, it is logically equivalent to the government's notification to the outside world. Announcing that Hong Kong will accept people with the virus but with a low level of virus to live as usual in the community, which may further affect the local testing standards in the future, and it is impossible for locals to be stricter than foreigners. First of all, I agree that the epidemic prevention policy will only prevent some people with high virus load and the greatest risk of transmission, which is a change in the thinking of epidemic prevention policy.”

Tian Beichen also pointed out that at present, passengers need to undergo PCR testing before coming to Hong Kong, but the standards of each country or region are different, and the whole arrangement itself is "suffering": "Some people are negative before boarding the plane, and they will change when they return to Hong Kong. Positive, it doesn't necessarily mean that it was a fake or infected on the plane, but the criteria are different, what does it mean to test it?" He revealed that the Medical and Health Bureau had long hoped to cancel the arrangement of pre-flight testing. But because I don't want to "cut it into pieces", I hope to release it together when "0+7" is relaxed.

Chen Kaixin: It is necessary to train inspectors to avoid trouble

Chen Kaixin, a Legislative Council member who was a political assistant to the Food and Health Bureau, pointed out that although the number of confirmed cases has dropped recently, the government cannot sit idly by and ignore the risk of epidemic prevention.

She pointed out that the cancellation of hotel quarantine has been mentioned in the past. In theory, there are three modes. One is to require passengers to be tested when entering the country, as in Hong Kong; the second is a tracking function program similar to Japan; Vaccination can be very wide, but Hong Kong's vaccination rate is still far behind Singapore's, and it is difficult to achieve in the short term.

She believes that the government must explain as soon as possible which way the "0+7" will go in the future.

In addition to the two packages mentioned by Tian Beichen, Chen Kaixin is also concerned that there will be a substantial increase in visitors coming to Hong Kong in the future, and when all quarantines are turned into medical surveillance, the manpower demand for inspections will definitely double, and the government needs to do training as soon as possible to avoid Then there was trouble again.

Customs clearance|If it changes to 0+7 in November, Politics: At the end of September, it should be decided that the travel industry will support the establishment of a tracking function Approved, Hong Kong Athletics Federation announces the cancellation of the competition

Source: hk1

All news articles on 2022-09-19

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