Government further tightens quarantine and testing arrangements for persons arriving from Taiwan and Singapore
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The Government had earlier tightened the boarding, quarantine and testing requirements for persons arriving at Hong Kong from Taiwan, including requiring from May 16 the relevant persons arriving at Hong Kong to undergo compulsory quarantine in designated quarantine hotels instead of undergoing home quarantine, as well as requiring from May 17 the presentation at boarding a proof of a nucleic acid test negative result for COVID-19 conducted within 72 hours before the scheduled time of departure of the aircraft.
In view of the continued rise of confirmed cases in Taiwan, the involvement of mutant virus strains in confirmed cases there, as well as indications that there had been a considerable number of pre-existing local transmission chains, the Government will arrange for persons who arrived at Hong Kong from Taiwan on or before May 15 and are still undergoing home quarantine to complete the remaining compulsory quarantine periods at the quarantine hotels of the Department of Health as a measure to prevent any such imported case from spreading to the community as far as possible.
At the same time, to reduce as much as possible the risk of the importation of cases from Taiwan and Singapore, the Government will also issue an updated compulsory testing notice under the Prevention and Control of Disease (Compulsory Testing for Certain Persons) Regulation (Cap. 599J), so as to further enhance the compulsory testing arrangements for persons arriving from Taiwan and Singapore upon their completion of compulsory quarantine (whether it is conducted at home or at quarantine hotel) as follows:
1. for relevant persons who were required to undergo compulsory quarantine for 14 days in accordance with the prevailing requirements when they arrived at Hong Kong, they are required to undergo compulsory testing on the 16th and 19th day of their arrival at Hong Kong. There will be a new requirement for them to stay at their place of residence, private premises or the place of quarantine specified on the quarantine order (referred to as "place of stay" below) until the test result from the test conducted on the 19th day is available. If a person subject to testing needs to take public transport for the purpose of undergoing the test or for returning to the person's place of stay, he or she should only travel direct by taking taxis and not to disembark on the way; and
2. for relevant persons who were required to undergo compulsory quarantine for seven days in accordance with the prevailing requirements when they arrived at Hong Kong because they have completed their vaccination course, they are required to undergo compulsory testing on the 12th day of their arrival at Hong Kong. There will be two new requirements, including (i) they will be required to stay at their place of stay until the test result from the test conducted on the 12th day is available. If a person subject to testing needs to take public transport for the purpose of undergoing the test or for returning to the person's place of stay, he or she should only travel direct by taking taxis and not to disembark on the way; and (ii) they will be subject to further compulsory testing on the 16th and 19th day of their arrival at Hong Kong, but will not be required to remain at their place of stay during that period.
A Government spokesman said, "The Government will continue to closely monitor the epidemic situation of various places, the prevalence of new virus variants, vaccination progress, and changes in the volume of cross-boundary passenger traffic, and will adjust the boarding and compulsory quarantine requirements for persons arriving at Hong Kong from relevant places as the situation warrants."
Ends/Tuesday, May 18, 2021
Issued at HKT 22:16
Issued at HKT 22:16
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