[Tom Otley]

Inevitable, I suppose

Hong Kong tightens travel restrictions to prevent Omicron spread

Health officials said residents returning from the countries would now need to be fully vaccinated and undergo 21 days of quarantine, with some of them also required to complete the first seven days at the government’s Penny’s Bay facility.

[cwoodward]

What exactly is this ‘New Hong Kong’ I am wondering
I have lived here since 1976 and it seems very like the old Hong Kong to me.
Of course the rather tabloid headline above is something of an overkill statement regarding the quarantine arrangements here and agreed that are tough particularly when endured so frequently by the above correspondent however they have worked and as a result some 15000 soles in HK are still alive.

It is perhaps all to easy to bandy around the terms ‘jail’ and “Stalag luft” in order to make a point that 4 lots of (largely self imposed) quarantine is too much for anyone.

No quarantine establishment is particularly pleasant but to describe Penny’s Bay as a jail is frankly a bit rich and inaccurate. I have been there and it is not particularly pleasant but it is new, clean and in good condition which many of these establishments around the world are not.

Hong Kong is presently for many reasons something of an easy target into which to put the boot but the government here has done overall a good job of managing the virus situation and its Airline Cathy pacific a sterling job of keeping 34,000 staff employed including the majority of its pilots when it can run less than 10% of its normal services.

Hong Kong desperately needs to get the border opened to mainland China and in order to do so needs to operate what some see as a rather draconian )but very effective) quarantine regime that is perhaps not exactly a holiday for anyone but BA crew will survive as did we.

[cwoodward]

According to the front page headline in the South China Morning Morning Post of this morning (03/12) the border to the mainland will finally be opened at 9a.m. on the 10 December.
According to the report only at this time to/from Guangdong province but at least it is a start that should ultimately lead to the opening of Hong Kong to other countries. There are unofficial indications here that the first will be be to Singapore and possibly New Zealand

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Polly, Tom Otley

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