Hong Kong is set to resume accepting international flights from nine ‘banned’ countries – Australia, Canada, France, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, the UK and the US, from April 1. Passengers originating in these countries were deemed to be dangerous from an Omicron point of view.
Flights from South Africa are not among those allowed into Hong Kong – in fact Cathay Pacific isn’t currently servicing the Johannesburg-Hong Kong route.
This feeds into the Special Administrative Territory’s Zero-Covid policy, which is also China’s Zero-Covid policy.
Currently, only Hong Kong residents are allowed to travel into Hong Kong and they must:
*Be fully vaccinated.
*Have a negative certificate from a PCR test conducted in the 48 hours before departure.
*Hold a confirmation of room reservation in a Designated Quarantine Hotel (DQH). Quarantine is compulsory.
On arrival, they are tested and, if negative, taken to the DQH by designated transport to fulfil a 14-day quarantine order. Here, people are antigen-tested daily, and PCR tested on days 5 and 12. Some people will be allowed to quarantine for seven days and isolate at home for the remaining seven (with an isolation bracelet in place). If the traveller tests positive they are taken to a medical facility for an unspecified time.
Some other restrictions on citizens have been loosened slightly. Kindergartens, primary schools and international schools are permitted to resume teaching in person at schools from April 19. Restaurants may stay open after 18h00 for dine-in services from April 21, and public gatherings, currently capped at two people, will allow four people to meet up.
Hong Kong has battled to maintain its zero-tolerance policy during the Omicron-fuelled outbreak with a massive surge in cases and one of the highest COVID-19 fatality rates in the developed world. It has recorded more than a million cases and 5 900 deaths in 2022, many fatalities recorded among the unvaccinated elderly population. Less than 25% of Hong Kong’s over-80s are vaccinated.
Hospitals have been flooded with cases and a coffin shortage has been experienced. A grandiose proposed plan to test every one of Hong Kong’s 7,4m residents has been put on hold. Panic-buying in supermarkets has reportedly left shelves empty and many residents have left Hong Kong.
The administration of Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s Chief Executive, has been lambasted for the way it has handled the pandemic. Critics have said after two years of low case numbers, the government seemed to have had no game plan for what could come next, and it appeared to have been taken by surprise by the arrival of Omicron.
A deepening isolation and the lack of visibility of the roadmap back to normality evinced criticism from business communities, and some major international banks have accelerated staff relocations. Bloomberg, in an article on March 6, notes that a “quiet exodus” was gaining momentum – many bank staff from Citigroup Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Morgan Stanley and HSBC Holdings Plc have departed.
The word is that the business community fears it is starting to see a higher degree of command-and-control from Beijing using the COVID pandemic to tighten its grip on the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong.
Hong Kong was the busiest airport in Asia, with tens of thousands of passengers a day and has for a long time functioned as an efficient and convenient hub for China and the Far East. But there are keenly competing aviation hubs in the region. Singapore Changi Airport and Seoul’s Incheon International are no doubt watching developments in Hong Kong with interest.