Hong Kong is to allow vaccinated tourists from all but 10 places in the world to enter the territory from Monday next week, a significant easing of some of the tightest border controls in the world.
Vaccinated visitors from nations considered “medium risk” would be able to enter the territory for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic started, while Hong Kong residents from previously banned places such as the UK would be able to return home.
Visitors and residents from medium risk nations must spend seven days in hotel quarantine after they arrive. They are also required to have a positive antibody test from a laboratory recognized by the government to prove they have been vaccinated.
Photo: AP
Antibody testing facilities at the airport would be available from the middle of this month, a government statement said.
The easing also allows children who are not eligible for vaccination to leave hotel quarantine with their inoculated parents after seven days — though they must then self-isolate at home for another two weeks.
The easing leaves only 10 places in the world, including the UK, India and Brazil, where non-residents remain banned. For these “high risk” places, only fully inoculated residents can return and they must serve a hotel quarantine period of 21 days.
The Hong Kong government also dialed up the pressure on the local population to get vaccinated, saying that only schools that achieve a 70 percent vaccination rate among students can fully resume in-person teaching next month.
Teachers must also get inoculated or go for regular testing at their own expense, officials said on Monday.
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