'New Quarantine Arrangement Poses Little Risk'

Respiratory medicine expert Leung Chi-chiu said on Monday that the government's decision to shorten hotel quarantine for people arriving in Hong Kong poses little risk to the community.

From Friday, arrivals will have to spend three days in a quarantine hotel instead of seven, and during the four days after they leave quarantine they will be banned from places where vaccine passes are checked.

Leung said the arrangement will be relatively safe.

"Although there is some degree of risk, the risk may not be too high because they have already undergone three days of quarantine, that will reduce the risk by 60 percent for those who have already tested negative at the airport," he said.

But Leung said travellers should also be barred from entering high-risk premises such as schools during the four days after they leave quarantine, to prevent large Covid outbreaks.

"They should not be allowed to go to face-to-face class, because school is another fast-transmitting venue, that may cause widespread cross-family transmission, bringing the dangerous variants into different families," he said.

Leung added that the quarantine reduction is unlikely to cause a surge in infection numbers, but urged the government to put in place more stringent social-distancing measures if this does happen.