Passengers arrive at the Hong Kong International Airport on April 1, 2022, after the city lifted a flight ban on nine countries amid the pandemic. (ISAAC LAWRENCE / AFP)
HONG KONG – Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said it is very unlikely that the government will relax its inbound travel restrictions before the end of June.
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Ahead of Tuesday’s Executive Council meeting in the morning, Lam pointed out that while the number of local COVID-19 cases is now very low, imported cases account for a significant share of the total caseload.
We will still have the hotel quarantine, we will still require vaccination before a passenger can board a plane to Hong Kong, and we will still impose the test-and-hold arrangement, whether at the airport or at a hotel, for a polymerase chain reaction nucleic acid test in order to keep Hong Kong safe.
Carrie Lam, HK chief executive
“On top of that, we are seeing different variants under (the Omicron sublineage) BA.2, so we have to be extremely careful in implementing the restrictions on border controls,” she said.
“We will still have the hotel quarantine, we will still require vaccination before a passenger can board a plane to Hong Kong, and we will still impose the test-and-hold arrangement, whether at the airport or at a hotel, for a polymerase chain reaction nucleic acid test in order to keep Hong Kong safe.”
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Noting that the government will implement the third stage of the vaccine pass arrangement on May 31, Lam called on residents to get the third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine to protect themselves and facilitate their access to specified premises by then.
Meanwhile, as a gatekeeping measure, the daily rapid antigen test requirement for students and school staff will be maintained until late June, she added.
Hong Kong confirmed 250 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, bringing the city’s tally to 1,210,836.