Govt pragmatic in COVID-19 fight

September 27, 2022

Chief Executive John Lee：

The first day of the implementation of our "0+3" (arrangement for inbound travellers) went quite smoothly yesterday, including the (operation) of the airport and also traffic arrangement.

I am happy that people are in general very supportive of the "0+3" policy. 

We have to be careful to monitor the situation, to ensure that things progress as we planned - smoothly and in an orderly and manageable way.

One other important element that I hope people will pay attention to is the non-compliance (to COVID-19 measures) by the people involved. 

First of all, we have already had over 40 people who broke the (Vaccine Pass’) Red Code (rule), when they should (have remained) at their isolation location but they left. 

And also in our compulsory testing notice (operations), we have found that each month, there was a rough average rate of about 8% of non-compliance (cases). 

This affects the effectiveness of the "0+3" arrangement, because in the "0+3" arrangement, we are requiring people to do (nucleic acid) tests on Day 2, Day 4 and Day 6, and also to do daily RATs (rapid antigen tests) continuously for seven days. 

If they do not do this, the success of the "0+3" arrangement will not be as effective because there may be a rebound of (COVID-19) cases. 

So it is important that we will also advocate for people to go for (their COVID-19) inoculation, particularly the elderly and young people because the inoculation rate (for these age groups) is very low.

In conclusion, we have to monitor the situation, be pragmatic, and be careful, so that there will not be a rebound of (COVID-19) cases which will destroy all the pathways to maximising activities in society.

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

Chief Executive John Lee today said that the Government will monitor the situation following the implementation of the “0+3” arrangement for inbound travellers, and reminded the public to continue to abide by anti-epidemic rules.

Under the “0+3” measure which came into effect yesterday, people arriving in Hong Kong from overseas places or Taiwan will be required to undergo a three-day medical surveillance plus regular virus tests.

Meeting the media ahead of the Executive Council meeting this morning, Mr Lee said the “0+3” arrangement, which involves airport and public transport operations, started off smoothly.

He was pleased to note that people are generally supportive of the relaxed rules and called on citizens to pay attention to any violation of COVID-19 measures.

So far, more than 40 people have breached the Vaccine Pass’ red code for failing to stay at the isolation locations. Meanwhile, those who did not comply with the compulsory testing requirement accounted for roughly 8% of the people subject to the test each month.

Mr Lee stressed: “This affects the effectiveness of the ‘0+3’ arrangement, because in the ‘0+3’ arrangement, we are requiring people to do (nucleic acid) tests on Day 2, Day 4 and Day 6, and also to do daily RATs (rapid antigen tests) continuously for seven days.

“If they do not do this, the success of the ‘0+3’ arrangement will not be as effective because there may be a rebound of (COVID-19) cases.”

Separately, the Chief Executive reiterated the Government's call for citizens to get the COVID-19 jab in time.

“It is important that we will also advocate for people to go for (their COVID-19) inoculation, particularly the elderly and young people because the inoculation rate (for these age groups) is very low.”

Looking forward, Mr Lee said: “We have to monitor the situation, be pragmatic and be careful, so that there will not be a rebound of (COVID-19) cases which will destroy all the pathways to maximising activities in society.”