Coronavirus: Hong Kong may adopt colour codes for infected patients and quarantined arrivals within weeks; new airport declaration rule coming
- Controversial QR codes, similar to what mainland China uses, could allow government to shorten mandatory stays at hotels
- Health authorities confirm 4,250 new cases, including 186 imported ones, and eight deaths linked to virus
The administration also announced on Sunday that all arrivals from overseas must complete their Covid-19 health declaration online from Thursday under a new requirement to speed up immigration and quarantine procedures at the airport.
The government is pushing to make the city’s vaccine pass system tied to the “Leave Home Safe” risk-exposure app more effective by identifying infected residents with a red QR code, barring them from public places, and giving arrivals in quarantine a yellow version, restricting their access to certain premises. Two sources familiar with the situation said the codes could be enacted in the coming weeks at the earliest.
But former health minister Dr Ko Wing-man, now a top government adviser, argued the new health code should eventually be extended to cover close contacts of people in both groups.
“[The purpose of the health code] is to identify those infected or who could be infected, so that during the incubation period, which is short, they can be restricted by the yellow code, and cannot go to high-risk places,” he said, referring to restaurants and bars. “They can still use public transport or go to work, as long as they wear a mask.”
Ko, a member of the city leader’s key decision-making body, the Executive Council, added that if the health code system was implemented successfully, the government might shorten arrivals’ quarantine period in government facilities or hotels.
The government is considering allowing returning residents to spend at least some of the week of quarantine at home, and the new code is being touted as a way to better ensure they do not wander out into the community.
Infections have been steadily increasing in recent weeks, and health authorities on Sunday confirmed 4,250 new cases, including 186 imported ones. Eight new deaths linked to the virus were also reported. The city’s Covid-19 tally stands at 1,321,993 cases, with 9,469 related fatalities.
