Letters | Why Hong Kong should simply scrap Covid-19 quarantine

Readers discuss Hong Kong quarantine requirements, why five days in quarantine should suffice, how the American system deals with extreme views, and the kindness of strangers

Reading Time:3 minutes

Travellers arriving at Hong Kong International Airport wait for quarantine arrangements on June 22. Photo: Yik Yeung-man

Published: 2:30pm, 30 Jun 2022

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I have been in quarantine nine times in Hong Kong. I am fully vaccinated and have previously contracted Covid-19 and experienced the treatment offered by the government-run medical facility in Lantau (that’s another story).

The merits of mandatory quarantine are debatable in the third year of the pandemic and whether one has been previously infected or not should surely be considered.

With the incubation period of the current Omicron strain standing at just three days, a reasonable person is left to ponder: have the restrictions – masks, vaccinations, isolation, quarantine and other precautions – actually prevented the spread? And if so, why are we still having wave after wave of coronavirus?

The Omicron strain hit Hong Kong hardest in early 2022, two years after the initial worldwide spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and when Hong Kong was at a height of restrictive controls (three weeks of quarantine, masks and a fairly vaccinated population). Yet the health system was overwhelmed in days.

To many, common sense seems to have evaded the Hong Kong government and we are now subject to the repercussions of the unsustainable “zero-Covid” policy.