On Friday, the government announced that starting May 1, Hong Kong will finally allow non-residents to enter the city. This step will end two years of stringent border controls since it was put in place in March of 2020.
Visitors must be fully vaccinated and are required to undergo the same quarantine requirements imposed for inbound Hong Kong residents. As of date, returning Hongkongers are required to book a mandatory quarantine for seven nights at any of the designated hotels. Arrivals will be required to take a rapid antigen test (RAT) and one RT-PCR test once they land at the airport. Travellers with negative RAT results will be allowed to go to the designated quarantine hotels to wait for their PCR results.
According to the authorities, there are plans to relax the threshold for suspending incoming flights by next month. The flight suspension mechanism will be cut from seven days to five. And flights will only be banned if they bring in five or more infected passengers. Further announcements will be made in due course.
Meanwhile, the city’s Covid-19 cases continue to decline. The government reported only 574 infections on Friday, 11 of which were imported.
