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Hong Kong’s scrapping of mandatory hotel quarantine means little for mainland China travellers
- Those arriving in the mainland still face a week of centralised quarantine
- Mainland stopped issuing ‘exit-entry permits’ for HK travel in January 2020
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While local and foreign travellers celebrate the scrapping of mandatory hotel quarantine rules in Hong Kong, people from mainland China hoping to travel via the city share little of the excitement.
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For 23-year-old Washington-based Ariel, who last visited her family in Henan province just before China started locking down in response to the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020, the border policy changes in Hong Kong have only made her more frustrated about the Chinese government’s stringent rules.
“This still doesn’t change the fact that you have to be quarantined on the mainland,” Ariel, who is working in the United States, said. “Hong Kong loosening up has nothing to do with the mainland following suit.”
She said her hopes that mainland China would scrap quarantine had not risen, and she had no plans to visit her family any time soon.
03:32
Hong Kong ends mandatory hotel quarantine for arrivals under ’0+3' plan
Hong Kong ends mandatory hotel quarantine for arrivals under ’0+3' plan
Hong Kong announced on Friday that it would scrap its Covid-19 hotel quarantine policy for all arrivals from Monday, leaving mainland China and Macau as anomalies in still keeping their borders closed to most travellers. Japan announced on Thursday that it will allow visa-free travel by individual tourists from October 11.
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