tfung

The rumor is the government is going to severely restrict the number of hotels that will be allowed to be used for quarantine (possible china style where you can't even choose which hotel), dedicated transportation from HKG or government holding location to quarantine hotel, as well as mandatory full board..

Nicc HK

Another rumour is that there will not be any real opening up until after Chinese New Year. It does make sense given the propensity to travel at that time.

There has been discussions about how to record vaccinated people travelling internationally and a common way of identifying such travellers. However according to this article, HK will only buy a Chinese vaccine. I can't seem to find any further information to corroborate this

https://hongkongbuzz.hk/2020/11/hong...ith-our-health

I just wonder what would happen if a person took a vaccine in one place, say the UK, then coming to HK and having to take a vaccine here because the UK one is not recognised.

Moscowflyer

There are many rumours at the moment. One fact (at least) circulating is that one hotel (Dorsett Kwun Tong) has now told existing QT guests by letter to the room that they will need to buy food from the hotel's set menu from now on and no deliveries will be allowed to the room (although another hotel has said that this is not their hotel's policy. This is just one hotel of many and may simply be the hotel deciding to make money out of its F&B operation. Or it may be a straw in the wind. Nobody knows yet but it seems to me that if only food couriers can deliver to the room (or only hotel staff take food to the room) the risk of excessive socialising between QT guests and their friends - which has happened in the past at a couple of hotels - should be eliminated and with it the risk of virus transmission be reduced while allowing those who are in QT, who are not criminals but simply citizens of HK returning to their city, to spend their time in QT in modest comfort with food they may like (and of course support lots of delivery riders' jobs).
But as we know "quality of life" is not a factor that the HK government has ever focused on since 1841. Here it's all about the numbers.

Reply1984

The link is all about fake news. From my understanding, the policy address indicated that vaccines from China would be a backstop plan if HKSAR failed to purchase enough vaccines from the international markets. Actually the distributor of BioNTech in the Greater China area, Fosun, has already been in agreement to supply 10million doses of mRNA vaccines to Hong Kong and Macau.

https://biontechse.gcs-web.com/news-...-million-doses


As for the vaccination records, I am more worried about countries like India or Philippines. If they could fake virus report, why couldn't they fake vaccination records?

Nicc HK

Thanks for the link and update. The one I posted just did not look right, and the searches I did regarding HK and vaccination proved fruitless.

On other countries and vaccinations like India, Philippines and the like my guess would be for quite some time visitors from these places will continue to enjoy a 14 day in hotel room full board stays.

brunos

The number of pax arriving daily at HKIA is roughly 1,000. If all go to a 14 day quarantine, that means 14,000 occupied hotel rooms.
I don't know how many escape hotel quarantine for various reasons, nor if some land arrivals need it.
But 14,000 is a large number and not easy to control.

Reply1984

I will say vaccines approved by US/EU/UK will be approved in Hong Kong very soon. They just follow decisions made by FDA/EMA.

And don't forget the private market in HK. Not all the Chinese people trust Chinese vaccines, and they can enjoy the benefits of ONE COUNTRY TWO SYSTEMS again

Nicc HK

Also available are the HK Government's own centres as well.

For perspective according to the HK Government 'By the end of May 2020, there were 306 hotels in Hong Kong, providing about 84 900 rooms. In 2019, the average hotel room occupancy rate decreased by 12 percentage points to 79%.'

http://www.gov.hk/en/about/abouthk/f...cs/tourism.pdf

fakecd

wouldnt be surprised.if they adopt aussie style.arrival quota soon. clearly hk wants to folloe china style, yet maintain face of "open border international city"

so, they keep boarder open. but must book govt approved hotel for QT

you try to book QT and all filled till march next year

hk govt say "its private sector issue" and.manage to keep open border but de facto closed.

percysmith

I can't honestly criticise this, because this is exactly what Australian state governments are doing https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ocea...-15-march.html

brunos

Some limited information on the new quarantine hotel scheme:
https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/...reaking-social

Reply1984

https://hd.stheadline.com/news/realt...8A%B5%E6%B8%AF

Fosun, the distributor of BioNTech mRNA vaccine in the Greater China area, said that it was actively negotiating with the Hong Kong government for vaccine registration, and expected vaccines could be shipped to Hong Kong as early as Q1 2021.

brunos

RA409 from Kathmandu has resumed after being banned twice. It got 6 infected pax on its 1 December arrival. Apparently some detected at arrival, a couple two days later.
https://www.chp.gov.hk/files/pdf/flights_trains_en.pdf

sbs2716g

saw 2 CX cabin crew on the list as well. Wonder whether they have already been infected before leaving HK ? Did CX enforce pre departure testing on their cabin crew ?

dfwrob

Hi. I'm flying SFO-HKG this Saturday with an arrival of time of 19:20, meeting a client air side (he is transiting) and then departing roughly 5 hours later HKG-LAX at 00:15. I will not be passing immigration or customs. Will I need a negative COVID test in order to do this? Will I need to be tested upon arrival? From what I am reading I think the answer to both questions is no, but I would like the wisdom of FTs. Thank you.