CE to look into 21-day quarantine

March 23, 2021

Chief Executive Carrie Lam:
The 21-day quarantine that Hong Kong has imposed on arrivals from outside China is, I will confess, very stringent. But at the same time, the fact is we continue to have positive cases confirmed beyond the 14th day while in quarantine. 

I am certainly, fully and acutely aware of the pressure that this has put on a lot of people - not only just business travellers but a lot of people. To be isolated for 21 days is a huge load (on people) physically and psychologically and in terms of other aspects. 

So I would say that I will personally look into this matter and see whether we could find mitigating factors to bring the 21 days back to the norm of 14 days, which is adopted in many other places. 

But at the same time, we could assure that there are safeguards in place to ensure that if people leave the quarantine centre or hotel earlier than 21 days, there are certain safeguards or medical surveillance in place to ensure that they do not bring infections into the community.

(To watch the full media session with sign language interpretation, click here.)

Chief Executive Carrie Lam today said she will personally look into the 21-day quarantine requirement for inbound travellers from places outside China and acknowledged the pressure people faced when placed under quarantine.

Ahead of the Executive Council meeting this morning, Mrs Lam said: “The 21-day quarantine that Hong Kong has imposed on arrivals from outside China is, I will confess, very stringent. But at the same time, the fact is we continue to have positive cases confirmed beyond the 14th day while in quarantine.

“I am certainly, fully and acutely aware of the pressure that this has put on a lot of people - not only just business travellers but a lot of people. To be isolated for 21 days is a huge load (on people) physically and psychologically and in terms of other aspects.

“So I would say that I will personally look into this matter and see whether we could find mitigating factors to bring the 21 days back to the norm of 14 days, which is adopted in many other places.

“But at the same time, we could assure that there are safeguards in place to ensure that if people leave the quarantine centre or hotel earlier than 21 days, there are certain safeguards or medical surveillance in place to ensure that they do not bring infections into the community.”