The Department of Health said to further facilitate the self-monitoring of inbound travellers undergoing quarantine at designated quarantine hotels (DQHs), it has developed a supplementary platform, the Electronic COVID-19 Medical Surveillance System (eCMSS), for a trial run.

Under the practice run, those who stay at DQHs can, acting on their own will, choose to register their rapid antigen test (RAT) results and personal health status through the system.

Currently, inbound travellers who had stayed in overseas places or Taiwan have to undergo daily RATs and self-monitoring during their compulsory quarantine at DQHs. They need to record their information on a paper form health monitoring checklist provided by the hotels. The DQHs will notify the department for following up with the travellers with symptoms or those who test positive through RATs.

In order to provide a more convenient electronic mode for inbound travellers to make relevant reports and to allow the Centre for Health Protection to better grasp the health condition of inbound travellers during quarantine, the centre earlier developed the eCMSS and began the trial run.

Travellers arriving in Hong Kong on or after July 24 and staying in DQHs would receive an SMS inviting them to log in to the system with the link provided in the SMS and upload relevant information on a daily basis during quarantine, including personal contact information, RAT results as well as their self-monitoring status.

As at yesterday, the department had sent an SMS to about 10,000 inbound travellers at DQHs, and about 5,000 of them chose to log in to the system.

The department reiterated that the objective of launching the system is to provide another convenient way for inbound travellers to record their health condition. They can still opt for the original paper form for recording purposes.

During the trial phase, DQHs are still required to collect the health surveillance information of inbound travellers, submit guest lists to the department that includes those who tested positive, as well as remind the guests who forget to do the RAT in accordance with the current arrangement.