Coronavirus: Hong Kong can consider scrapping all travel curbs if cases stabilise, experts say, while health officials concede living with virus likely future path
- Professor Ivan Hung says city could do away with recently revealed ‘0+3’ arrangement if imported cases remain less than 5 per cent of monthly virus tally
- Health authorities admit living with virus will probably become a reality, as doing away with it entirely is difficult
Hong Kong can consider scrapping all isolation requirements for inbound travellers in the next few weeks if the number of imported coronavirus cases remains stable and local ones are kept contained, infectious disease experts have suggested.
Health authorities admitted on Saturday the city would likely need to accept living with the virus, saying it was difficult to eliminate entirely from the community. But Professor Ivan Hung Fan-ngai, a government pandemic adviser from the University of Hong Kong, suggested the city could afford to end all travel restrictions if the proportion of cases from overseas stayed below 5 per cent in the coming weeks.
“We may see this in the next few weeks provided the local cases are kept under control, which lessens the burden on the healthcare system,” he told a radio programme.
The number of daily coronavirus cases in Hong Kong has dropped by just over 3,000 in a week. Health officials reported 5,190 new infections on Saturday, 152 of which were imported, and seven additional related deaths.
The government announced it would scrap the hotel quarantine requirement for travellers from Monday and launch a “0+3” scheme, requiring arrivals to undergo three days of medical surveillance at either home or a hotel.
But they would be barred from premises, such as restaurants and bars, under the city’s vaccine pass arrangement during the period.
The “0+3” plan will replace the current “3+4” initiative, which involves three days of hotel quarantine and another four under medical surveillance, while social-distancing rules and the mask mandate will remain in force.
