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Coronavirus pandemic
Hong KongHealth & Environment

Omicron variant: Hong Kong tightens measures for US arrivals, requires first week of 21-day quarantine to be at Penny’s Bay government facility

  • Move prompted by Omicron case detected in traveller from the US, bringing the total number of variant infections confirmed by city so far to five
  • The US is the first country outside Africa to be subject to the heightened quarantine requirements

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City residents returning from the US will soon have to spend their first seven days of quarantine at the government’s camp at Penny’s Bay. Photo: May Tse
Danny Lee,Elizabeth CheungandVictor Ting
Hong Kong residents returning from the United States will have to spend their first seven days of quarantine in a government camp, with the city’s health authorities elevating the country to the highest Covid-19 risk level.
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The announcement on Friday evening marked the first time health authorities have moved a country outside Africa into the highest category of risk. The decision was prompted by a confirmed case of the Omicron variant in a traveller from the US.

The government said in a press release that the new rules for US arrivals, based on the “most stringent quarantine and testing requirements”, would kick in from Monday.

The Omicron case, the city’s fifth so far, involved a 37-year-old man who arrived from the US on Tuesday and was among the seven new infections confirmed on Thursday. The man had received two doses of the BioNTech vaccine and was so far asymptomatic.

The other Omicron cases comprised two connected to South Africa and two linked to Nigeria.

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