'Govt Needs To Be Careful With Adjusting Entry Rules'

The Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development on Saturday said the government must take a cautious approach when assessing whether quarantine requirements for arrivals into Hong Kong might be further adjusted, as the SAR's Covid caseload has been increasing.

Speaking on two radio programmes, Algernon Yau said the move to three days of hotel quarantine had only been in effect for around a week, and that officials would need more time to collect data and review the arrangement.

The minister said there would be room for further easing of the rules, if the Covid tally goes down.

"It will take a bit of time to understand the situation before we can consider any further arrangement in future," he said. "And actually, the number of [local] cases came up [on Friday] from 5,000 to 6,000, so we need to be very careful about the development.

"Especially when winter comes, flu – together with the pandemic – could be a consideration before we can make any further changes."

Yau said the administration was looking into whether people with an amber code on their LeaveHomeSafe app – meaning they are under medical surveillance – can be allowed to go to exhibitions.

Representatives of the exhibition trade earlier appealed to the authorities to lift the restriction, saying that would help revive the industry when some exhibitions had already moved to places like Singapore.

In response, the minister said he believes the events had been relocated only temporarily, and that they would return to Hong Kong once the pandemic was under control and the relevant rules were relaxed.

The official said one of his key tasks would be telling Hong Kong's story well overseas, saying that the SAR has advantages that make it attractive to foreign investors, including a sound legal system and its ability to integrate with the Greater Bay Area.