Hong Kong Scraps COVID-19 Hotel Quarantine from 26 September 2022
As widely speculated, Hong Kong has just announced that it will end all mandatory hotel quarantine for arrivals from 26 September, Monday. This is a change from the current 3 days of hotel quarantine required for international tourists.
The pre-flight PCR test which has to be taken 48 hours before flying will also be replaced by just a Rapid Antigen Test (ART). However, travellers will still be subjected to a compulsory polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on arrival and have to self-monitor their health over the next 3 days under its “0+3” plan. During this period, travellers are also not allowed to visit F&B or nightlife premisses.
| Current COVID-19 Quarantine Measures | COVID-19 Quarantine Measures After 26 Sep |
|---|---|
| - Negative PCR result before flight | - Negative ART result before flight |
| - 3-day hotel quarantine | - PCR test on arrival | - 4-day self monitoring after quarantine | - 3-day self monitoring (no visiting of restaurants and bars) | - ART test on 2nd day of arrival | - PCR test on day 2,4,6 of arrival | - ART test every day for 7 days after arrival |
The Hong Kong government has been under intense pressure to remove some of its stringent COVID-19 measures as the city has been losing its competitiveness by shutting itself off from the world due to China’s zero-COVID policy for the past two and a half years.
A day ago, International Air Transport Association (IATA) warned that the city has lost its position as a global aviation hub due to its tough pandemic-control policy. In the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI), Singapore has overtaken Hong Kong as Asia’s top financial centre.
Hong Kong reports 5,387 new COVID-19 infections today with 156 imported ones, as well as 12 more related deaths. This brings the total number of COVID-19 cases in Hong Kong to 1,736,413 with 9,946 deaths.
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