Hong Kong: Hotels reduce Covid quarantine period to three days

Coming Friday, those arriving in the city will have to stay at designated quarantine hotels for three days.

They will then undergo another four days of "medical surveillance" either at home or at any hotel.

During the "medical surveillance" period, people can visit areas not requiring vaccine passes, including bars, gyms and amusement centres, as per media reports.

They are also barred from participating in any mask-off activities - such as certain forms of exercise - or entering homes for the elderly or disabled people and designated medical venues.

If the inbound international travellers test negative during the four-day period, they will be allowed to commute using public transport, go to work and enter shopping centres or public markets.

As per the Hong Kong health code, the colour of international arrivals will change to blue from yellow once their '3+4' days arrangement has completed.

Hong Kong health officials have signalled a rise in covid cases to 8,000 in the upcoming weeks.

Health Chief Mau said those who break the compulsion of taking the RAT and PCR tests will be fined to the tune of HK$ 25,000 or sentenced upto six months in jail.

Chief Executive John Lee said that the government would "actively control" the number of Covid cases.

In the present year, Covid cases soared in Hong Kong after the arrival of the highly transmissible Omicron variant.