Govt Seeks To Align Jab Requirements For All Arrivals

Health Secretary Lo Chung-mau said on Saturday that the government is hoping to align Covid vaccination requirements for all arrivals, but stopped short of giving details.

Currently, visitors from the mainland do not have to be inoculated, but other overseas travellers must be fully vaccinated.

Speaking on a radio programme, Lo said the forthcoming resumption of quarantine-free travel with the mainland is what people hoped for, while cautioning a rise in infection numbers amid more activities in society.

Asked if the government would prioritise allowing fully jabbed mainland visitors in when the border reopens, Lo said the government encourages inbound travellers to be inoculated, but it is not up to the authorities to decide on vaccination policies outside of Hong Kong.

He also did not say whether the government will require mainland visitors to be vaccinated before entering the SAR.

"Our principle is to align international traveller requirements with the inbound travellers coming from the mainland. We will be monitoring the situation and consider how we would adjust the vaccination requirement for these inbound passengers," he told reporters after the programme.

"We agree, in the past, we have a discrepancy in this requirement for inbound travellers coming from overseas, as compared to the mainland. We will be adjusting this."

On whether to scrap quarantine for infected people and the mask mandate when the daily caseload drops, Lo said the government must ensure the well-being of the public and the healthcare system.

He said the government had tweaked its pandemic measures.

"We have just made major adjustments to the anti-epidemic measures, one of which is to cancel the quarantine order and stop classifying people as close contacts. We will have to monitor the situation before we make further adjustments to the isolation order," Lo said.

The minister added that with changes to the virus and the increasing understanding of the public, the fight against Covid has entered a new stage, and he hoped the pandemic, which has lasted for three years, will end soon.