The Government announced today that it will maintain the boarding restrictions for the UK and South Africa as well as the 21-day compulsory quarantine arrangements for people arriving in Hong Kong from places outside China.

Currently, any person who has stayed in the either of the places for more than two hours on the day of boarding or during the 21 days before that day are not allowed to board for Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, all people arriving in Hong Kong who have stayed in places outside China on the day of arrival in Hong Kong or during the 21 days before that day have to undergo compulsory quarantine for 21 days in designated quarantine hotels.

The Government said the measures will be maintained in view of the developments of the global COVID-19 pandemic situation.  

It pointed out that cases of the more transmissible new virus variant were detected in an increasing number of places. The situation in the UK, where the new variant was first discovered, has further deteriorated in the past two weeks.

The Government said it recognises such a requirement is very stringent and may inevitably affect the return journey of a number of Hong Kong residents in the UK or South Africa.

However, it has the responsibility to guard against the importation of COVID-19 cases, and the new virus variant in particular, to protect the well-being of Hong Kong residents.

The Government added that the local epidemic situation has only just begun to stabilise and it cannot afford to relax the relevant restrictions at this juncture, to prevent the community's anti-epidemic efforts from going down the drain.