Come on Carrie, let us fly again

Time is running short for Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor to end all local Covid social distancing restrictions before she leaves Government House.

While she may have started packing up for a new life from July 1, she must know that the public want to be return to the type of life they have missed for so long and so much because of the pandemic.

In addition to dining out or watching their favorite movies, people also want to travel overseas, just like Commerce and Economic Development Secretary Edward Yau Tang-wah - thus spared the seven-day hotel quarantine on their return from countries that are opening up to vaccinated visitors.

Lam probably knows that.

So, while raising hopes that the third phase of easing will happen before end of June, why couldn't she be bolder rather than playing down public expectations by saying the final phase of relaxation would not be crucial to either recovery or people's enjoyment?

If the final phase is limited to just increasing the seating limits in venues - and no more - Lam is bound to disappoint the people.

It's not only senior company executives who want greater freedom to travel like their overseas colleagues have already been doing - the general public also expects to be able to fly in and out quarantine-free.

Other countries have been making steady progress in opening their borders to quarantine-free entry for vaccinated travelers.

Hong Kong, with almost 90 percent of the population vaccinated with two doses, is in an enviable position to follow suit.

If others can drop the quarantine-isolation requirement for vaccinated visitors, why can't Hong Kong do the same in view of its extraordinarily high vaccination rate?

It was disappointing to hear Lam telling the media that, during the remainder of her term, it would be very unlikely for her administration to go a step further in relaxing border controls.

What does this mean? Residents returning to Hong Kong and foreign visitors coming here still have to be vaccinated before boarding a plane, still have to wait at the airport or hotel for a PCR test upon arrival and still have to isolate themselves at a designated hotel for seven days,

It's the last condition that upsets people the most.

It's true that, percentage-wise, the ratio of imported cases has increased, but that is an unfair comparison.

As a matter of fact, the daily counts of imported cases have not increased - it's just that the numbers of local cases have fallen remarkably from a peak of over 70,000 a day to less than 200 yesterday.

The imported cases, below 30 yesterday, have not made the city any more unsafe as the local population has been immunized through vaccination and natural infection.

Two weeks have almost passed and, thank goodness, there is no sign of the so-called sixth wave breaking out as feared by University of Hong Kong medicine faculty dean Gabriel Leung Cheuk-wai.

It is increasingly clear that the seven-day quarantine requirement is outdated, offering no additional benefits to public health.

On the contrary, it deepens the damage to the economy.