Easing of restrictions on inbound travellers

8:30am-9:30am: “zero plus three”

8:30am-9:00am: Iñaki Amate, vice-chairman, European Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong 

8:30am-9:00am: George Cautherley, Vice Chairman, Hong Kong International Chamber of Commerce 

8:30am-9:00am: Anthony Cheung, Adjunct Research Chair Professor, Education University's Department of Asian and Policy Studies; former secretary for transport and housing

9:00am-9:30am: Paul Leung, Chairman, Hong Kong Inbound Travel Association

9:00am-9:30am: Fanny Yeung, Executive Director of the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong

On Monday's Backchat, we're going to talk about the easing of restrictions on inbound travellers.

Starting from Monday, there’ll be no mandatory hotel quarantine for new arrivals, but they will be given an amber health code for three days, which prevents them from visiting places like restaurants and bars.

They’ll be told to take rapid tests for Covid for a week, and PCR tests when they arrive at the air-port, as well as two, four and six days later.

The government is also dropping a requirement for travellers to get a negative PCR test result before boarding their plane. Instead, they’ll be required to take a rapid test within 24 hours of boarding.

Politicians and health experts have shown support to the new “zero plus three” arrangement but some say they hope to see all medical surveillance scrapped completely. However, the Health Secretary Lo Chung-mau has said it’s not the right time to lift all travel restrictions.