Upon request of the Consulate General of Italy, the Hong Kong authorities withdrew the measure of mandatory 14-day quarantine in the centers set up by the Government for all inbound travelers who visited the Italian Regions of Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia Romagna – included all passengers who were in airport transit in those Regions – in the previous 14 days from their arrival in Hong Kong. The measure will cease to be in place starting from April 17th.
The official note is available at the following link.
Nevertheless, the following measures are still in place until further notice:
- All non-Hong Kong residents coming from overseas countries and regions by plane will be denied entry to Hong Kong;
- Non-Hong Kong residents coming from the Mainland, Macao and Taiwan will be denied entry to Hong Kong if they have been to any overseas countries and regions in the past 14 days;
- All transit services at Hong Kong International Airport will be suspended;
- All travelers coming from Macao and Taiwan, including Hong Kong and non-Hong Kong residents, will be subject to a 14-day compulsory quarantine, which is the same as the arrangements for people entering Hong Kong from the Mainland.
Starting from April 13th, all asymptomatic inbound travelers arriving at the International Airport of Hong Kong from Europe and the United States are required to be tested for COVID-19. Starting from April 22h they will be mandated to wait for test results at a designated location after collecting their deep throat saliva samples for conducting testing for COVID-19 at the Department of Health (DH)’s Temporary Specimen Collection Centre (TSCC) at AsiaWorld-Expo.
Passengers arriving by flights in early mornings and later mornings will stay at the TSCC to wait for test results after collecting their deep throat saliva samples there. They will receive the test results on the same day.
As the test results for passengers arriving in afternoons or at nights will not be available on the same day, they will be taken to the Regal Oriental Hotel by coaches arranged by the Department of Health to wait for their test results.
If tested positive, arrangements will be made to admit them to hospital as soon as possible for treatment, while the close contacts who traveled with them will be sent to designated quarantine centers. Those testing negative can either go home or to a designated place to continue completion of the 14-day compulsory quarantine.