freed0m

That's politics. When border opens, it is more about normal travelers, rather than political matters.

Most travelers go to HK not for politics...

of course, reciprocal, too (it is so funny that when Europe asks for reciprocity for opening to China, when China does not really want people coming in)

percysmith

Ever since NSL, Government's first priority has been to "trying" to "align" with national priorities.

So probably no exemptions other than Mainland Health Codes. And even if Government is "trying" to show it's opening up, it will accept Singapore MoH paperwork months before NHS codes or CDC cards.

percysmith

Residents can do it pre-departure and starting from phase 1, whereas non-residents get their blood drawn direct at HKG and starting from phase 2

https://hk.news.yahoo.com/%E6%8A%B5%...085936227.html

freed0m

maybe think another way. Does China single out US/UK in term of travel restriction? Not really, right?

hmmm, CDC cards, not exactly that difficult to fake from what I read online....

percysmith

Well, both China and now Hong Kong refuse to recognise BNO as travel documents, but rest of the world does.

sxc

Let’s see if the sinovac recipients will have satisfactory antibodies for travelling.

freed0m

what an immigration recognise as a legal travel document is entirely decision of the said government, e.g. the rest of the world can recognise passport of RoC(Taiwan), no one can present a passport of RoC to enter Mainland China.

And worse can happen.

maybe HK immigration will ask people to sign a form to declare that they will waive their BNO status if they use HKSAR passport to enter HK.

percysmith

I'm sure "our" government will not do anything to put national champions in a bad light.

This may be the test they're doing https://www.healthgene.com.hk/produc...-test/?lang=en - check for "neutralising" antibody as opposed to "binding" antibody.

brunos

There are many different types of antibodies. Serology (blood) tests specifically target some of them.

China used serology tests in addition to virology PCR to detect false-negative PCR tests. A patient infected with covid starts developing some specific antibodies rapidly.
But the HK purpose is quite different. The purpose is to detect if vaccinated people have indeed a sufficient load of neutralizing antibodies.

Different vaccines have different processes. The BioNTech vaccine targets the spike protein. The cheap tests available in HK pharmacies do not look at spike anitbodies and would yield a negative result. Sinovac inoculate an inactivated virus. It leads to the development of all kinds of antibodies, but not such a strong load of spike antibodies as BioNTech.

If an antibody test is to cover a variety of vaccines, it will probably focus on spike neutralizing antibodies such as the test your link above.

percysmith

(A bit of speculation at this stage) if it is to detect a certain vaccine-neutral indicator of efficiency then some vaccines may be favoured by the test at the expense of others. This may cause discrimination claims by the takers of the not-favoured vaccines - it's not the mere test of compliance.

percysmith

BTW I haven't seen the answer to the admin mess Govt may face with phase 2.

Say you're arriving from a current Group B country, and you have correctly taken two doses of vaccine plus 14 days.
How many days' hotel should you have confirmed booking for prior to embarking for Hong Kong - 7 or 21?

maalloc

In yesterday's newspapers (SCMP? Reuters? Don't recall exactly which one) it was reported that the government was discussing with hotels of a standardized way for travelers to shorten their bookings.
My interpretation is that you are expected to book the longest duration, then might go out sooner if the various tests end up with a green light. What happens to your booking next is a different topic...

percysmith

That's what I thought. Pay 14 get 7?

apsrinomecker

Carrie Lam said she did and passed the test.. so let's see....

apsrinomecker

I think the correct answer is book 14 (as you are vaccinated), then pray you get the antibody so it become 7. Carrie Lam said she will work with hotels so that refund will be made