Govt Eases Flight Rules, Adds Quarantine Hotels

The government announced two moves on Saturday intended to help SAR residents return to Hong Kong, easing a flight suspension mechanism and announcing that more quarantine hotels would be available when bans on arrivals from nine key destinations are withdrawn on Friday.

Hours after Chief Executive Carrie Lam ruled out any major concession on the flight suspension mechanism, under which airlines carrying Covid-positive passengers are banned from operating a specific route, officials announced what they described as "streamlined triggering criteria".

Flights will now be banned for one week, instead of the previous 14 days, and bans will take effect only if three or more passengers on a single flight test positive on arrival, or if there is at least one positive test and at least one case of non-compliance with pre-departure testing flights. The new rules take effect on Friday.

The announcement was made in a statement setting out new arrangements for incoming flights that will take effect on Friday.

Airlines had called for changes to the mechanism to restore Hong Kong's connectivity to the rest of the world.

Separately, the government said that it would convert 13 hotels that had been pressed into use as Covid isolation facilities back to quarantine use.

Officials also said four other hotels would change from isolation sites into quarantine hotels for foreign domestic helpers. In total, there will be 4,400 extra rooms for Hong Kong residents returning from overseas and a total of 1,600 for helpers who already work in the SAR or who have been granted visas.

In a statement on Saturday, the government said the hotels "will commence service progressively from April 1 onwards and will start to accept room bookings for the relevant period gradually."

It said the move was made "in anticipation of the growing number of returning Hong Kong residents".

Officials say they've also asked existing quarantine hotels to open up 500 blocked off rooms for bookings. The moves take the total number of quarantine hotel rooms to more than 10,000, with full details available on the quarantine hotels website.

Details of hotels for domestic helpers can be found on a separate website.

The travel sector had welcomed the lifting of flight bans on the nine territories, which include the United States, Britain and Australia, as well as the Philippines.

However, despite a surge in online searches for flights, industry leaders say many people would find it difficult because of a lack of flights and a shortage of hotel quarantine rooms.

The government announced last week that it would reduce the hotel quarantine requirement for fully-vaccinated Hong Kong residents from 14 days to a week.