Visitor quarantine to end imminently in Hong Kong

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  • cwoodward
    Participant

    Announced this morning more detail to be announced later today.

    3 users thanked author for this post.

    Mark
    Participant

    Will be nice for this hub to get back to buzzing again.
    It is a spotter’s dream!

    1 user thanked author for this post.

    Mark Caswell
    Keymaster

    stevescoots
    Participant

    if i understand correct its.

    no test before flight neeeded
    rapid test on landing but do not need to wait for result
    can stay any hotel but have to do 3 days classed as “amber” this means no resturants, bars or other places where green pass is needed. I wonder if this also includes hotel resturant? if so then apart from walking outside and to work its still in effect a 3 day restriction. A big step forward. Good for residents, fine for business who are doing a quick in and out i guess. it will not bring in tourists but its a good start finally.

    1 user thanked author for this post.

    MartynSinclair
    Participant

    I would also be interested to know what happens if the airport arrival test is positive?

    2 of my remaining clients in HKG who I have not seen face to face since the start of the restrictions are already booking flights to BKK to meet me in December. They prefer to travel out over suggesting I travel in…

    As stevecoots suggests:

    [quote quote=1233546]it will not bring in tourists but its a good start finally.[/quote]

    Also – great report by cwoodward who over a week ago, reported this will happen (on another thread)….

    1 user thanked author for this post.

    cwoodward
    Participant

    BTW I believe that the FT above report is incorrect re testing
    Will post when I have finite detail


    Mark Caswell
    Keymaster

    Thanks cwoodward – have found it difficult to get definitive facts on this which is why I made it clear that part was being reported by the FT. Happy to be corrected though!

    2 users thanked author for this post.

    christ
    Participant

    No PCR test before but a rapid test and which you somehow download into an app 24 hours before boarding.

    On arrival, you get a pcr test but don’t need to wait. If you test positive, the expectation is that you get sent to a quarantine centre (not confirmed). However for the first 3 nights you can choose any hotel and travel in public transport.

    For the first 3 nights (or maybe days) you will not be able to go to bars, pools, restaurants (including hotel). However you can use public transport, shops and go to office.

    You are meant to take rapid tests daily for a week and pcr tests on days 2,4 and 6.

    Whilst some improvement it is mostly seen as a benefit for locals to travel and maybe a few business people to come rather than any increase in tourism when most of the world is open and thus many are saying it is not enough (and in particular mask mandate remains and a limit on groups – but I think this is increasing to 8 and so should not be an issue).

    It will be interesting to see how the hotel market adapts with all these quarantine hotels having to revert to normal businesss.

    1 user thanked author for this post.

    TimFitzgeraldTC
    Participant

    You’d need to have a really good reason to go to HKG to put up with these restrictions. For 99% of people I imagine they’d still avoid HKG and travel to many of the places in Asia that have removed unnecessary restrictions if business needs doing in this part of the world.

    Seems like a PR stunt more than anything as they see the damage being done to HK

    5 users thanked author for this post.

    Tom Otley
    Keymaster

    Hong Kong Airfares Skyrocket With Hotel Quarantine Ending

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-23/hong-kong-airfares-skyrocket-with-hotel-quarantine-set-to-end?sref=mmmxhwrQ

    2 users thanked author for this post.

    Polly
    Participant

    Yes Tom,

    Saw that today. And here l am trying to get BA to move me to CX J seats late November. No chance now.. that’s if transit can still go ahead from CX to BA or CX… otherwise it’s using more avios on a KUL MH F to Dublin, but stopping in LHR… So annoying, those these half hearted measures to attempt to open up.
    These financiers coming into HKG beginning of `November won’t tolerate these silly measures. They just won’t come. And what about the rugby later in Nov? A lot of people have booked that up.. let’s see if common sense prevails in the next couple of weeks….


    Polly
    Participant

    HKIA not updated yet re transit, from KUL, no clue how this is going to turn out late November.


    Polly
    Participant

    Yes, can’t wait to visit there again… such a great city.


    cwoodward
    Participant

    Below having spoken with a couple of friends who know this subject better than do I is my understanding of the new arrangements
    Which seem to me simple and straightforward .

    1. Fundamentally all visitors will be treated exactly the same as are locals

    2.In HK we all need to have on our phones a government ‘Leave home safe app’ it is this app that governs everyone’s entry into restaurants, bars and nightclubs
    In order to enter these establishments it is necessary to be fully vaccinated. The vaccination information is recorded on the app.The app needs to be scanned in order to gain entry. If the app says No = no entry .

    3. Visitors will need to carry out RAT test within 24 hours of boarding a flight. On arrival a PCR test will be carried out but all arrivals will then be immediately free to go on their way.

    4. They will receive an amber code on their phone app (as opposed to the normal green one) for the next three days which will prohibit them from entering places that require vaccine pass checks restaurants, bars and nightclubs. This is basically the only restriction.

    5. On the third day normally the phone app will turn blue and end this restriction.

    6.A self-monitoring period then begins from Day 3 to Day 7 with individuals having received a blue health code needing now to then self monitor.

    7.Travellers who test positive during the 7 day medical surveillance will be dealt with in the same way as residents and will receive a red app code which prohibits them from leaving their residence or hotel.If they test positive via a RAT, they will need to declare the result on a government website. Normally the infected individual will be allowed to undergo home or hotel isolation providing that their residence is deemed suitable by health authorities. Hotels would be deemed suitable.

    8.All in my view is simple and “doable’ with little fuss.

    One thing to note is that in HK we all wear masks when out and about outdoors – there is a dispensation made for those exercising
    I have worn a mask for the past over 2 years and it has become such a habit and I now find no discomfort even in Hk’s(on occasion) 33 degrees and 90%+ humidity.

    I hope that the above is of assistance but it is just my understanding and no more than a brief guide

    1 user thanked author for this post.

    tomyam42
    Participant

    Hong Kong is my home. I have been here on and off for most of my life since I first arrived in 1955. I love it as much as anyone else does but am far from confident about its prospects. Certainly the latest changes make it easier to enter Hong Kong, however in my opinion they will still put off 99% of the world’s tourists. So far this month I have been in Hong Kong, Manila, Bangkok and Singapore. Most of the people I see travelling do not want to wear masks indoors or outdoors, definitely those who would probably be classified as attractive tourists discard them whenever possible and I cannot imagine them contemplating 8 days of RATS plus 4 PCR tests, let alone not eating in restaurants or drinking in bars for 3 days, all with the risk of a visit to the renowned Penny’s Bay lurking as a possibility. Things will get easier, of course, they have to, but we ain’t there yet. And enormous changes will have to be made to more than the travel restrictions to entice foreigners with school aged children to come and live here.

    1 user thanked author for this post.
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