HK To Stop Isolating Covid Patients From Jan 30: CE

Chief Executive John Lee announced on Thursday that Covid-19 patients will no longer have to isolate from January 30, describing it as an important step towards Hong Kong's return to normality.

Speaking at a question and answer session at the Legislative Council, the CE said the coronavirus will be treated as an upper respiratory disease, as Omicron infections mostly only lead to mild symptoms in vaccinated patients.

"We have opened our borders [with the mainland] for over 10 days. The risk of infection has not been increased. The epidemic situation has been alleviating," Lee told lawmakers.

He said the daily caseload has dropped by around 90 percent from the recent peak of over 30,000 a day, adding that the population's immunity barrier has been greatly enhanced through mass vaccination and infection.

Lee stressed it's high time for the government to change its Covid management approach – from implementing mandatory measures to putting in place a voluntary arrangement for people to decide what’s best for them.

He said health officials will hold a press conference on Thursday afternoon to give more details.