Hong Kong has updated its travel guidelines and added 15 countries to its “high risk” list. This includes the US, Spain, France, Greece, Malaysia, Turkey, and more. The new rules mean arrivals must quarantine for 21 days in a designated hotel and only HK residents will be permitted entry. The move comes less than two weeks after the territory opened its borders to visits for the first time since March 2020.
Scaling back
Hong Kong reopened its borders to nonessential travel on August 9th, hoping to capitalize on pent-up demand and stimulating the economy. However, exactly a week later, the territory is tightening rules amid a COVID surge globally. Starting midnight on 20th August, Hong Kong will add 15 countries to the “high risk” list, meaning strict conditions for arrivals.
The 15 countries include some major markets and are: the US, France, Spain, Switzerland, Greece, Netherlands, Malaysia, Thailand, Turkey, UAE, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Iran, Sri Lanka, and Tanzania. These are in addition to the 10 countries already on the list, including Brazil, India, the UK, Ireland, and more.
According to Reuters, Hong Kong authorities explained their decision to tighten rules, saying,
“Despite large-scale vaccination programmes, many places are also experiencing resurgence of the virus, which poses enormous challenges to our local anti-epidemic efforts.”
Meanwhile, Hong Kong has seen little to no local transmission in the last two months, a track record it hopes to maintain.
What does it mean?
The new rules apply to any passengers who have been in any of the high-risk countries for over two hours in the last 21 days. For starters, only Hong Kong residents are permitted to travel back home, with tourism and other visa types barred. All residents must also be fully vaccinated with a recognized record to fly back and are banned in case they are not.
Once you meet these conditions, passengers must book a 21 day in a government-approved quarantine hotel and take an RT-PCR test 72 hours before arrival. In quarantine, travelers will be tested four times and take another test on day 26 after arriving. After this, the quarantine process is now complete.
In the same update, Australia has been moved from a low-risk to medium-risk country. This means passengers now must be fully vaccinated and carry an antibody test to reduce their quarantine to 14 days. Those only fully vaccinated will spend 14 days in quarantine, while unvaccinated ones will spend 21 days. New Zealand is now the only low-risk country in the world.
Dampened
At the start of August, Hong Kong was preparing to reopen to the world. While a 7-day quarantine and testing were a part of the deal, it at least gave visitors the chance to enter Hong Kong for the first time in 18 months, reuniting with family and friends or just for tourism.
A week later, 25 countries won’t have that chance again. The loss of the US and major EU countries will affect arrivals and hurt the airline recovery. However, with less strict rules for all but 25 nations, Hong Kong is hoping to see passengers fly in and once again visit the city.
What do you think about Hong Kong’s new entry rules? Let us know in the comments!
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