Hong Kong to ease strict COVID curbs after business backlash
The flight ban is no longer timely and appropriate...it will bring huge disturbances to Hong Kong people
Hong Kong plans to relax some anti-COVID-19 measures next month, lifting a ban on flights from nine countries, reducing quarantine and reopening schools, after a backlash from business and residents.
The moves, announced on Monday by Chief Executive Carrie Lam, come asmany countries shift to trying to living with the virus rather than trying to keep it out.
Residents in the Chinese-ruled territory have become increasingly frustrated with the stringent measures, many of which have been in place for over two years.
A ban on flights from Australia, Britain, Canada, France, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines and the United States will be lifted from April 1.
"The flight ban is no longer timely and appropriate...it will bring huge disturbances to Hong Kong people who are stuck in these nine countries if we continue the ban," Lam told a news briefing.
Hotel quarantine for Hong Kong residents arriving into the city could be cut to seven days from 14 if they tested negative, Lam said. She had previously said measures would be in place until April 20.
Schools would resume face to face classes from April 19 while public venues including sports facilities would also reopen from April 21, she said.
Hong Kong's border has effectively been shut since 2020 with few flights able to land and hardly any passengers allowed to transit, isolating a city that had built a reputation as a global financial hub.
Hong Kong has registered the most deaths per million people globally in recent weeks – more than 24 times that of rival Singapore - due to a large proportion of elderly who were unvaccinated as the highly transmissible Omicron variant ripped through care homes.
The densely packed city has recorded more than a million infections since the pandemic started and about 6,000 deaths - most of them in the past month. Authorities reported 14,068 new cases on Monday and 223 deaths.