What does "open to the world" mean? To me it means no automatic quarantine and at most 2 tests after arriving. This isn't going to happen unless the mainland does the same.

HK is already open to the mainland with Come2HK.

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Perhaps it just means that they'll let non-residents back in again, but with the same length of quarantine if not more.

They did let non-residents in during 2021 (with quarantine of course) before Omicron showed up.

With Omicron there is no doubt that it would spread quickly. New York has pretty high vaccination rates but it is running rampant here. Fortunately Omicron does appear to be milder, particularly among those who are vaccinated and boosted. I am hoping it will peak in the next couple of weeks, then start to come down. We will see.

Thanks. I should have been more clear . . . my question is more how can they discuss plans to open after a certain vaccination rate AND maintain a zero covid policy? Surely they realize the former is going to eliminate the latter.

The HK government has announced no such thing. It's just idle talk on CNN.

Exceptionally long list of hotspots for mandatory testing today: 56 places and transport routes, including Victoria Park.

https://gia.info.gov.hk/general/2022...1323262255.pdf

Really mandatory testing?

So people who may have been exposed are to report and get tested?

Those testing centers may be super spreader events.

No non specific so people can just deny they were at those places and not show up for mandatory testing.

I don't really know much about the situation in HK. What do we think the chances are of being able to connect (on separate tickets) in HKG in late Nov? SYD (SQ) SIN (SQ) HKG (VS) LHR if it makes a difference.

It's madness to even think of a possible itinerary 11 months away. Who ever knows.

If you want to use points, you don't have much choice.

You do always have choices. These include using cash instead to buy a different routing, or not going at all. If you choose to use points, then you are simply gambling. The dice will be in the air and - perhaps very shortly before your flights - they will land where they land. Crystal balls can only show you so much.

Don't plan anything through HKG. VS and SQ might be banned from HK by then anyway.

HKG is such a unique case, I'm really curious how will pan out.
Of course, I used to visit HKG before pandemic and I really enjoyed it.

From an economic perspective, HKG definitely are helped by the Chinese traffic, which is allowed. And I guess this is in line with the PRC policy of bringing HKG closer to China and reduce it's international exposure. I imagine some officials in Beijing are very excited with this situation and they having the motive to shut off international traffic without having backlash from the Intl community.
HKG is too cosmopolitan for the like of the Party.

On the covid plan, this is mind boggling. IMHO, there must be two hidden plans. Either
a) they plan to "save" the olimpics only and don't want to take any chances, following this "zero covid policy" until then
or
b) they are stubborn as a mule and will keep this policy forever-ever.

Because the situation is binary, there is no middle ground here.
The current vaccines, boostered with 3/4 doses do not grant neither immunity nor lower transmission rates. They only reduce the incidence of the mid-severe cases.
In addition to Omicron, which is the mild variant we were all waiting for to end this, it will translate in a lower number of deaths than a flu epidemic.
And that should be acceptable for any reasonable government, to brace for opening and accept these mild consequences. Whilst cases would soar, deaths would be within limits.

But 0-covid policy cannot be maintained unless they completely maintain the shut off of the island and the mainland, the way they're doing it now.

And of course it's easy to maintain a 0-covid policy when for one case you lockdown a 10 mil people metropolis for a month. You cannot do that in EU or US, it's unthinkable.

But this 0-covid doesn't make sense on the long run. It's like their one-child policy: they will be realising it's wrong only too late and when nothing could be done to fix it.

I am really curious how they will manage this and the collateral damages sustained by the HKG residents and local economy on the long run.

PRC doesn’t care about HKG. If there’s a massive Omicron outbreak in HKG the border to Shenzhen will never open. Since HKG government is essentially controlled by the PRC they also won’t open to the rest of the world either.

Sad, but it is what it is

You know, if they even open by Sep/Oct of 2022, I'd be ecstatic. Heck, I'd even settle for opening by Christmas.