Hong Kong to shorten quarantine period for vaccinated visitors

HONG KONG - Hong Kong will shorten the quarantine period from May 12 for inbound visitors who have been fully vaccinated against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Travelers will face varied arrangements depending on their places of departure as public health authorities have divided overseas areas into five categories based on the severity of the pandemic, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government said Friday.

People from low-risk areas including Australia and Singapore will have their mandatory quarantine shorted from two weeks to one plus self-monitoring for seven days, Thomas Chan, the permanent secretary for food and health (health), said at a press conference.

Chan said those granted the shorter quarantine should take the second shot of the COVID-19 vaccine two weeks before their arrival.

The current 21-day quarantine period for those from medium-to-high-risk places will be reduced to two weeks plus seven days of self-monitoring. But the policies for visitors from places of extremely and very high risks remained unchanged.

Inbound visitors from the mainland, Macao or Taiwan, except those under the "Return2hk" travel scheme, will undergo seven-day quarantine plus self-monitoring for seven days.