Quarantine for arrivals tightened: CE

August 17, 2021

Chief Executive Carrie Lam:

We are facing changing circumstances on a very frequent basis, especially with these so-called (COVID-19) variants of concern and the prevalence of the Delta (variant) in many places. And experts have told us that the Delta (variant) is more infectious than other variants of concern and that is why we need to adapt our policies, especially on the border control policies, to make sure that we are able to prevent the importation of Delta cases and the spread into the community. 

So what the experts have come to a view on at the joint scientific group meeting last night is they are recommending that the Government should reverse an earlier decision - again based on their advice in June - that antibody tests could be used as an instrument to reduce the quarantine period.

They advised us that with the prevalence of the Delta (variant) in many places, it is better to err on the side of caution. 

So this proves that it is not an exact science to deal with COVID-19. We have to continuously review the situation together with the experts and take account of their advice to design our policies.

I have to apologise to those people who have been inconvenienced or who have (had) their plans disrupted as a result of this change in the use of the antibody tests, but I hope they will understand that everything we are doing is to protect Hong Kong from another major outbreak that we have seen and we have suffered.

(To watch the full media session with sign language interpretation, click here.)

Vaccinated people who test positive for antibodies will undergo a longer quarantine period by staying at designated hotels for no less than 14 days to cope with the ever-changing epidemic situation Hong Kong is facing.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam made the statement ahead of the Executive Council meeting this morning, noting the prolongation of the quarantine will apply to the arrivals from places other than the low-risk ones.

Two scientific committees under the Centre for Health Protection proposed at a meeting last night that the compulsory quarantine for people arriving in Hong Kong be adjusted amid growing evidence of the increasing transmissibility of the Delta variant.

Mrs Lam said: “Experts have told us that the Delta is more infectious than other variants of concern and that is why we need to adapt our policies, especially on the border control policies, to make sure that we are able to prevent the importation of Delta cases and the spread into the community.

“So what the experts have come to a view on at the joint scientific group meeting last night is they are recommending that the Government should reverse an earlier decision - again based on their advice in June - that antibody tests could be used as an instrument to reduce the quarantine period.”

The current practice is for fully vaccinated people arriving from medium-risk or low-risk places who meet certain criteria to undergo compulsory quarantine as short as seven days in a designated quarantine hotel with self-monitoring in the subsequent seven days.

Recently, there have been imported cases that involve fully vaccinated people whose infections were detected beyond the seventh day of the quarantine after arrival.

“So this proves that it is not an exact science to deal with COVID-19. We have to continuously review the situation together with the experts and take account of their advice to design our policies.

“They advised us that with the prevalence of the Delta variant in many places, it is better to err on the side of caution.”