By The SUN
 |
| CE Lee (center) announces the relaxed measures at a press conference today |
From tomorrow, new arrivals
in Hong Kong will no longer have to undergo PCR tests, while everybody else will no longer be
required to present their proof of vaccination to enter many public places,
including restaurants.
In addition, close contacts of
infected persons will no longer have to undergo quarantine although the
patients themselves will still have to isolate.
However, all travelers entering Hong Kong will still be asked to take a rapid antigen test within 24 hours of boarding their flights, or a PCR test conducted not earlier than 48 hours before. They will also be advised - not required - to take daily RATs for six days from their arrival.
Filling out the health declaration form before boarding a flight to Hong Kong will be made optional.
Details of the relaxed rules were disclosed at a press conference earlier today by Chief Executive John Lee, who said the government is “further improving” anti-pandemic measures because there is now a relatively high vaccination rate in the city.
Apart from this, there is
already sufficient medication against Covid and medical personnel and the
public have come to understand better how to cope with the pandemic.
CE Lee said the focus now
will be on preventing serious illnesses and deaths due to Covid-19, and
protecting the more vulnerable sectors like the elderly.
Thus, the mask mandate will
continue, as well as the daily rapid antigen tests required for children going
to school, as well as staff at care homes for the elderly and the disabled.
Lee rejected claims the radical
easing of restrictions was sudden, saying the government has all along been
making preparations for returning the city to normalcy.
"There will always come
a day when we have to make big decision about normalisation. That is exactly
what we are doing now, because the time is appropriate for us to do it, having
prepared for six months to do all this. In fact, I think society as a whole is
preparing because I have been hearing a lot of voices saying this is the thing
to be done," he said.
Health Secretary Lo
Chung-mau, who was also at the press conference, said people in Hong Kong need to still wear masks so they are protected
not just from Covid, but also from seasonal flu and other respiratory tract
infections
He said officials will consider
allowing people to go out in public without a mask only after spring next year.
This is because of what he
called a “serious winter surge,” when the daily tally of Covid-19 cases has
been hovering around the 21,000-mark.
Health authorities later
reported that a total of 20,865 new Covid infections were recorded today, of
which 1,176 were imported.
Another 59 patients with Covid have died.
