The Hong Kong Government has scrapped its COVID-19 app and ban on international arrivals from visiting bar and restaurants in the first three days.
This announcement came yesterday after the mainland Chinese Government shut down its app which tracked domestic travel, as it moves away from its “zero-COVID” strategy.
Arrivals to the city-state had their movements restricted under the “0+3” arrangement, which meant they couldn’t enter certain venues in Hong Kong during their first 72 hours there.
John Lee, the leader of Hong Kong, said the government decided to drop the restrictions after considering the latest data and risks.
“The infection risk from imported cases is lower than the risk from local infections,” Lee said.
The update has been warmly welcomed by Cathay Pacific, which said the adjustments will help further boost sentiment for travel, especially among inbound visitors, thereby facilitating the resumption of travel activities and strengthening of network connectivity at the Hong Kong aviation hub.
“The Cathay Pacific Group, which includes passenger airlines Cathay Pacific and HK Express, has already added about 3,000 passenger flight sectors in the fourth quarter of this year,” the airline said in a statement.
“This includes Cathay Pacific resuming flights to popular destinations such as Tokyo (Haneda), Denpasar (Bali) and Zurich in November, as well as Sapporo, Fukuoka, Penang and Dhaka in December. More popular destinations are set to be resumed in 2023, including Phuket and Nagoya in January.”
Hong Kong’s heavy reliance on travel and trade means its economy has been hugely impacted by China’s strict travel restrictions.
Despite Hong Kong ending its mandatory hotel quarantine in September, visitors have not returned to pre-COVID levels. Daily arrivals to the city-state sit at about 20,000 people, compared with about 350,000 in November 2019.
