Advertisement
Advertisement
Coronavirus Hong Kong
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more
Travellers who have landed queue up at Hong Kong’s airport. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

Coronavirus: home quarantine for arrivals into Hong Kong with 3 vaccine jabs? Government health advisers suggest scheme amid optimism as city records lowest number of cases in 3 months

  • Top infectious disease expert Professor Ivan Hung, convenor of a vaccine committee, says tracking wristbands and regular PCR tests can accompany move
  • Saturday’s 278 Covid-19 cases is lowest daily caseload since February 4, while no deaths were reported in Hong Kong for the first day since February 15

Arrivals into Hong Kong who have received three doses of a Covid-19 vaccine should be allowed to quarantine at home, two government health advisers have said, with one of them projecting daily infection caseloads to drop to two digits in about a fortnight.

His appeal came as health officials confirmed 278 cases on Saturday, including 18 imported ones, and reported no new deaths. The city’s coronavirus tally now stands at 1,206,319 infections, with 9,344 related fatalities.

Saturday’s figure was the lowest since February 4, when 131 cases were logged. It was also the first day since February 15 with no reported Covid-19 deaths.

Professor Ivan Hung Fan-ngai, a top infectious disease expert and convenor of a government vaccine committee, suggested on Saturday that travellers with three jabs or two with a previous infection record be allowed to isolate at home with an electronic tracking device upon a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test at the airport.

Under current rules, such arrivals have to undergo a seven-day hotel quarantine.

Professor Ivan Hung, convenor of a government vaccine committee. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

“It’s really reasonable and feasible to quarantine at home for seven days but at the same time you need to wear a tracer so you can be contacted straight away if you test positive during the seven days,” Hung said, adding such individuals should undergo regular PCR screening in this period.

Leading government adviser Professor David Hui Shu-cheong said he agreed in principle with the idea of home quarantine for arrivals into the city.

“Those two subsets have relatively lower risks so it is feasible, but [the authorities] need to make sure that they are not living in subdivided units since it would pose risks if they carried [other Omicron sub-variants] and are in a crowded living environment,” Hui said, adding that it would be better if those travellers have isolated bedrooms and toilets at home.

He was less certain that the daily cases would drop to two digits in two weeks’ time as the current third-dose vaccination rate was still below 50 per cent, and felt caseloads would hover in the three-digit region for some weeks more.

When asked about it, Dr Albert Au Ka-wing, the Centre for Health Protection’s principal medical and health officer, seemed to dismiss the idea of allowing international arrivals to quarantine at home.

“Quarantining overseas arrivals at hotels is a very important measure to prevent imported cases, especially those with a variant, from slipping into the community. This, I believe, the government will take very seriously, and it will review various measures aimed at preventing imported infections,” he said.

Health authorities have been urged to allow people with special needs to isolate at home, after veteran actor Kenneth Tsang Kong, 87, died while in hotel quarantine on April 27.

Hong Kong airport to conduct rapid Covid-19 testing for overseas travellers from May 9

Hung also suggested arrivals with negative PCR results could leave the airport freely without home quarantine if the local third-dose vaccination rate reached 90 per cent, the number of infections “in the external environment” dipped further, and there were no new coronavirus variants.

He said, however, that arrivals should still wear a tracer and undergo regular PCR tests for a set period.

Hongkongers queue up for vaccination in Kwun Chung. Photo: Edmond So

As of Saturday, 48.8 per cent of Hong Kong’s population aged 12 or above had received their third dose. More than 91.4 per cent of residents aged three or above had gotten their first jab, with the mark at 85.2 per cent for the second shot.

More than 74,000 eligible individuals, including the elderly aged 60 or above, had gone for their fourth vaccine dose.

Hung on Saturday noted the fifth Covid-19 wave in Hong Kong was subsiding, even with the easing of social-distancing measures and recent long weekend, as the population had acquired natural immunity with an estimated 4 million already infected.

Hong Kong eased some pandemic curbs on Thursday, doubling the cap per table at restaurants to eight, allowing people to take off their masks at country parks or while exercising outdoors, as well as reopening swimming pools, beaches and water playgrounds.

“Although recent daily cases have been around 300, I believe the numbers will drop again after a week, even with social-distancing measures loosened. It is hoped that case numbers will drop to two digits in two weeks’ time,” Hung said.

He said even if sub-variants of Omicron emerged, these would not cause an outbreak unless a completely new strain surfaced, warranting retightening of social-distancing measures.

Hong Kong experts warn ‘loophole’ in Covid-19 self-reporting risks death

Hung also said he expected that the fourth-jab requirement for all residents would kick in by November, when a new vaccine targeting Omicron might also be available.

The government adviser also echoed other experts’ views to drop a flight suspension mechanism that temporarily bans airline routes based on the number of infected passengers brought in. He questioned the usefulness of the rule under current control measures, arguing that most of the population had already been infected and economic activities should be allowed to resume.

Since May 1, international travellers can fly into the city but must serve seven days in hotel quarantine. The threshold for flight suspensions was also relaxed from three to five infected passengers, or 5 per cent of people on a single flight, whichever mark is greater. The length of suspension was also cut from a week to five days.

Timothy Chui Ting-pong, executive director of the Hong Kong Tourism Association, said that if the government implemented home quarantine for overseas arrivals, some of the city’s residents would travel abroad, and expats and businessmen could also be attracted into returning to Hong Kong.

“If they can enter Hong Kong without quarantine at a designated hotel, it would be quite attractive,” Chui said, although he noted that the policy would do little to bring in tourists, since they would still need to quarantine in hotels.

He hoped that the government could offer a route map of reopening the borders with both the mainland and foreign countries, one that included details such as possible relaxation of quarantine requirements, the prerequisites Hong Kong needed to meet, and a timeline.

On Saturday, the Centre for Health Protection also revealed that a small outbreak had occurred at a restaurant in Yuen Long among four unrelated patrons, leading to compulsory testing orders issued for 190 diners. One of them works at a care home for the elderly, and infected another colleague, but other residents of the facility have tested negative so far.

107