'Tighten Exemption System Before Border Reopens'

A deputy to the National People’s Congress, Michael Tien, on Monday called on the government to tighten its quarantine exemption system, saying this could be key to reopening the border with the mainland.

Tien made the suggestion after a Russian diplomat in Hong Kong was confirmed with Covid-19 over the weekend, triggering a lockdown of his residential building.

“It involves sovereignty and diplomacy, and the negotiation is very complex. But I heard that there are more than a hundred consulates in Hong Kong. Is there a quota [for the exemptions]? If there are a dozen staff for each of them, it adds up to two thousand,” Tien told an RTHK programme.

“Can’t they give a quota for each consulate? Three at most, I’d say. The consul-general, a deputy plus someone else. There’s no reason to exempt their family members. And what about their staff? At least the list of exemption can be narrowed,” he suggested.

He said he was shocked that NPC Standing Committee member Tam Yiu-chung was barred from attending a regular meeting in Beijing after a Covid patient was identified in Hong Kong, because NPC members were allowed to fly to the capital a few months ago even before the SAR achieved a status of zero local cases.

Tien said he suspected the ban showed that mainland authorities are worried that the SAR’s quarantine exemptions may lead to the virus spreading across the border.

Speaking on the same programme, Tam said he believed Hong Kong people would have to use a health code app with a tracking function if they wished to enter the mainland without being quarantined.