Coronavirus: Hong Kong leader John Lee dismisses calls to drop health code for travellers and mask-wearing rules, hints ‘0+3’ will remain
- He argues city has hosted mega events in the past week under tailor-made arrangements, and more activities could be carried out in similar manner
- Chief executive cites daily caseloads at between 4,000 and 6,000, and lessons from deadly fifth wave, saying pandemic never left
Hong Kong’s leader has dismissed calls to scrap a Covid-19 health code arrangement or ease rules on mask-wearing despite the smooth hosting of the Sevens rugby event over the weekend, hinting that the current “0+3” approach will not be aborted soon.
Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, who earlier declared the mega sporting event to be a resounding “success”, on Tuesday doubled down on present pandemic policies, arguing they had already enabled the city to open up and allowed authorities to tailor-make relaxed arrangements for international events.
More of such global events could be held in a similar manner, he said.
But medical experts and the tourism sector argued against Lee’s cautious approach, saying the city was ready to relax all of its travel curbs.
Lee’s comments came as authorities on Tuesday recorded 4,649 new Covid-19 infections, including 399 which were imported, and four more deaths, bringing the overall tally to 1,957,542 cases and 10,479 fatalities.
Under the “0+3” model, overseas arrivals must undergo three days of medical surveillance, during which they are allowed limited movement in the city and must be tested for Covid-19 regularly. But exemptions were made for those attending a high-powered bankers’ summit last week, allowing them to visit the M+ museum and dine at designated venues.
“What is important is under ‘0+3’, already a lot of activities have been taking place. At the present moment, I think ‘0+3’ has served the purpose of Hong Kong to an acceptable and anticipated extent,” Lee said before the weekly meeting with his advisers in the Executive Council.
