Secretary for Commerce & Economic Development Algernon Yau today said the Government will carefully observe the implementation of the new quarantine arrangement before considering further changes.

From August 12, the hotel quarantine period for people arriving in Hong Kong from Taiwan or overseas places has been shortened from seven days to three days. For the next four days, these individuals can then either go home or stay in a non-quarantine hotel to undergo medical surveillance.

Meeting the media after attending radio programmes this morning, Mr Yau said: “The number of cases went up yesterday from some 5,000 to 6,000. So we need to be very careful about the development, especially when it comes to winter, the flu together with the COVID-19 pandemic could be a consideration before we make any further changes.”