HONG KONG (AP) – Hong Kong will scrap its mandatory isolation rule for people infected with COVID-19 from January 30 as part of its strategy to return the southern Chinese city to normalcy, the city’s leader said yesterday.
For most of the pandemic over the last three years, Hong Kong has required those who tested positive to undergo quarantine.
Many residents once had to be sent to hospitals or government-run quarantine facilities even when their symptoms were mild.
Currently, infected persons are allowed to isolate at home for a minimum of five days and can go out once they test negative for two consecutive days. The mask mandate will be the only major COVID-19 restriction left in the city.
Chief Executive John Lee told lawmakers he made the decision based partly on the city’s high vaccination and infection rates, saying the local community has a strong “immunity barrier”.
“As most infected persons only suffer mild symptoms, the government should shift from a clear-cut, mandatory approach to one that allows residents to make their own decisions and take their own responsibilities when we manage the pandemic,” he said.
He said it is a step all countries make on their paths to normalcy and that Hong Kong has reached this stage now and that COVID-19 will be handled as another kind of upper respiratory disease.
Centre for Health Protection Controller Edwin Tsui told a news conference that people with asymptomatic infections can go out freely or return to their workplace but infected students should not go to school until they obtain a negative test result.
Those who suffer from COVID-19 symptoms should avoid leaving home, he said. Residents will no longer need to report to the government when they test positive, he added. Hong Kong’s daily tally has fallen to 3,800 cases from 19,700 over the past two weeks.
With many infected residents only having mild symptoms, most choose to isolate at home.
The figures don’t include those who never report their cases but stay at home to avoid spreading the virus to others.
