Govt Extends Quarantine For New Arrivals To 21 Days

Health officials say that from Friday all overseas arrivals into the SAR will have to quarantine in designated hotels for 21 days as the city battles the fourth wave of coronavirus.

That's up from 14 days previously.

Officials said they've extended the quarantine period because experts believe that some cases could incubate for longer than two weeks.

The only exemptions are for travellers from the mainland, Macau and Taiwan, who'll continue to serve home quarantine for 14 days.

Officials also announced new restriction on travel from South Africa where the new more transmissible variant of Covid-19 has surfaced.

They've banned anyone who's stayed in that country for more than two hours within 21 days from travelling to Hong Kong.

Health officials said earlier that they're seeking more details from the World Health Organisation over the South African variant of coronavirus that's believed to be more transmissible and may hit young people harder.

The SAR reported 71 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday - of these 61 were local and 30 had no clear source.

Chuang Shuk-kwan from the Centre for Health Protection warned people to be careful over Christmas - as clusters had already emerged from winter solstice gatherings.