HK opening up 'soon' as Beijing signals OK

The government is working on reconnecting with the world by slashing quarantine measures, which could be announced soon, says Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu.

But Lee said his administration has to be sure there will be no going back after controls are relaxed.

A Beijing official overseeing Hong Kong affairs also said the central government has always supported the city to reconnect with the mainland and the world .

Lee said yesterday he is aware of the need to maintain Hong Kong's competitiveness, but authorities want an orderly opening up.

Asked if authorities will scrap the preboarding PCR Covid test for inbound travelers and whether the city has a roadmap for resuming normal life, Lee said his government is considering different opinions.

"While we will do our best to control the epidemic, we aim to have the maximum connection with the international world and also to reduce the inconvenience to people who arrive in Hong Kong," he said. "That is a very clear goal."

Lee said since the daily caseload is dropping more activities will be allowed - but in an orderly way.

He said the government will continue to boost the vaccination rate among the elderly and children, adding that civil servants are allowed to take a half-day leave to take their children aged below three for inoculation.

Huang Liuquan, deputy director of the State Council's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, said the SAR government has stressed that there is no contradiction between connecting with the world and reopening the border with the mainland.

There is nothing wrong with the Hong Kong government's adjustment of Covid measures, Huang added, as Beijing has always supported the city's status as an international financial, aviation and trade center.

A former secretary for transport and housing, Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, said Lee needs to bring a "clear and proactive endgame roadmap" in his first policy address next month as people and businesses cannot endlessly tolerate stringent social distancing measures.

Cheung said Covid is becoming an endemic disease so measures should not be too strict.

Infectious disease specialist Wilson Lam Wai-shun supported relaxing the rule for inbound travelers to 0+7 - no hotel quarantine and seven days of medical surveillance - as imported infections account for less than 2 percent of the total caseload.

Lam, vice president of the Hong Kong Society for Infectious Diseases, also said the Omicron BA5 outbreak should be regarded as the sixth wave and that it had already peaked earlier this month. He said community transmission will further decline in the coming one to two months.

The Chinese Manufacturers' Association of Hong Kong urged the scrapping of hotel quarantine, saying the measures are affecting the city's international status.

The caseload dropped to 5,594 yesterday - 5,459 local infections and 135 imported cases.

But it included a case of a two-year-old boy in critical condition with excess fluid in his brain after being infected.

The boy received one vaccine dose on August 30. He had a fever on Sunday and tested positive on Monday.

He is being treated at the pediatric intensive care unit at United Christian Hospital.

wallis.wang@singtaonewscorp.com

Editorial: Sooner the better to unlock cage