[cwoodward]

According to unconfirmed reports from normally reliable sources in both China and Hong Kong all of the Covid restrictions preventing inbound travellers from entering China will be lifted for inbound travellers to China but strong policing of inbound mainland travellers to Hong Kong will be in place. There will be no immediate changes in Hong Kong it appears.

[stevescoots]

with only 4% of capacity functioning on flights and the HK/SZ border not fully open, or at least one way its still going to take a while before people go in. I am looking to go in March but as they cancelled my residency have to go through the now complex visa process and if HK border not open in march will look like having to transit via 3rd country. No word on mainlanders being able to renew passports that have expired either

[FaroFlyer]

Yes, I was told this on Friday by a friend with connections in Shenzhen. Good news for me as it is Shenzhen & Jingzhou / Wuhan that I want to be able to visit more than HK. Last time in China was Shenzhen and Wuhan in January 2020!

Safe travels and a Good New Year to all!

[MartynSinclair]

[quote quote=1333502]There will be no immediate changes in Hong Kong it appears.[/quote]

So it appears for the forceable future, all arrivals into HKGIA have to run the PCR arrival test lottery with a positive or false positive result, meaning your freedoms will be removed for a number of days. An overnight visit could turn into 6 nights or more..

Currently it appear you have a 5% chance of losing the lottery and a 95% chance of winning. What happens when the borders open, is anyone’s guess.

I have now bought my lottery ticket…

cwoodward, I am relying on your optimistic posts… (for March)

[christ]

It is good for incoming travel as there should be no risk from tomorrow (assuming negative test before fly). Martyn – there is no PCR test on arrival from tomorrow.

However the mask mandate is ridiculous and people will not visit. When i landed on 26 December, there were maybe 10 or so people at the visitor border control and most were at the permanent residency or HK resident desks.

Thankfully I ended up flying back on BA and no crew wore masks and maybe less than 10% of customers. BA first was amazing on the 787.

Another poster who was shot down for saying there were hazmat suit people on arrival in HK was exactly correct as that was what i was greeted with and it certainly felt like being in a timewarp. On the positive side, from when I stepped off the plane, I was back in Wan Chai in 58 mins!

But how crazy, when China is at one of the worst in the world, HK will open borders to China and who knows what variant they have there (John Lee changes his mind every week based on China). It is quite scary being in HK as I would feel safer if opened everywhere else – perhaps this is reflected as Japan is adding additional requirements for China (and US expected to follow)… however Japan also restricting HK to access only 4 airports, but not a big deal as covers the main ones.

I feel things may move the other way around and the ROW ban China and maybe but hopefully not HK (a lot being politcal).

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tomyam42

[christ]

I also noted some errors in the reporting as PCR test is 48 hours before but RAT 24 hours. Not sure how anyone can prove when or who rapid test was and so pointless.

Pretty downbeat here though due to masks! Sit in a restaurant with 10 people and no masks but cannot hike or exercise in open air without masks!

[AMcWhirter]

BBC reports that a number of nations have already and/or about to test travellers arriving from China for Covid.

Bloomberg today reports that there were a number of Covid-positive cases on two flights arriving from China at Milan.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-64107553

[Johnnyg]

Italian authorities tonight stated that approximately half of passengers arriving on two flights to Milan from China today have tested positive for Covid 19.

On the first flight 35 out of 92 and the second flight 62 out of 120., scary times again

[MartynSinclair]

[quote quote=1334035]However the mask mandate is ridiculous and people will not visit.[/quote]

I am not so sure the mask mandate will stop people visiting – the big thing was the PCR test on arrival and the lottery of not knowing the accuracy of the test results. There was a 5% chance of being forced into full isolation.

From a personal point of view and from a ‘getting on with life’ perspective, covid no longer worries me any more than a cold…. I accept though that others may think differently.

[christ]

I genuinely think many westerners will be put off by masks (even the locals i am friends with here are fed up with….. noting i know some older people do like). I understand places like Bangkok and even Singapore (stand to be corrected), there is no requirement.

I am not too worried re COVID but was previously more re the consequences.

However HK has relatively controlled the virus but now as instructed by China, it will undo all of the good work. My fear is that countries will continue to put additional restrictions on arriving from HK (and so be a role reversal).

I think it will be an interesting next few weeks to see how things end up as hopefully the ROW moves on and accepts (after all I am sure the US as an example has endless cases) rather than more restrictions. Unfortunately, I suspect much is political and HK gets brought into.

[Tom Otley]

It is astonishing that 50% of passengers on these two flights into Milan tested positive for Covid

Milan Reports 50% of Passengers on China Flights Have Covid

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-28/milan-reports-50-of-passengers-in-flights-from-china-have-covid?sref=mmmxhwrQ

It can’t be long before other countries require testing before accepting arrivals

[Swissdiver]

It is absurd not to impose PCRs (and quarantine if positive) for travellers coming from China, as they rightfully do in Italy. While I concur with the idea of having a normal life again, tempting the devil is useless!

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theflyingnurse

[Tom Otley]

Just been announced

China Covid: England to require negative test for arrivals

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-64130655

Interesting that Prof Andrew Pollard, chairman of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), “said the restrictions are unlikely to prevent new Covid variants reaching the UK and it was difficult to know what impact such a move would have here.

He told BBC News: “Trying to ban a virus by adjusting what we do with travel has already been shown not to work very well.

“We’ve seen that with the bans on travel from various countries during the pandemic, that hasn’t stopped those viruses travelling around the world eventually.”

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christ, GivingupBA

[Swissdiver]

Tom,
We know we cannot stop the virus, but restricting the entry (as now Italy, Spain and France do as well) can slow down its arrival and help emergency services to deal with the disease. That said, according to https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/, Europe is already facing lots of cases (over 800’000 active cases for France alone, a bit more in Poland and a bit less in Germany).

1 user thanked author for this post.

christ

[Tom Otley]

Yes, it might slow it down, I suppose, though I’m not sure a few extra weeks is going to help the NHS at the moment, what with the strikes etc… (Maybe they will call off the strikes if there is another pandemic?)
Not very cheerful thoughts when we are heading into 2023, but we can always hope!

1 user thanked author for this post.

christ

[Author]

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