Hong Kong to tighten COVID-19 rules, hopes China reopens

By ZEN SOO
Associated Press

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong will tighten COVID-19 restrictions despite its lack of outbreaks to align with China’s policies and increase chances of quarantine-free travel between the territory and mainland. Hong Kong has not had a major outbreak in months while remaining largely closed to international travel. Leader Carrie Lam says tightening restrictions to be “more in line with mainland practices” is necessary to give Chinese authorities confidence to resume cross-boundary travel. The city will step up contact tracing and tighten quarantine rules to exempt only emergency workers or those in essential industries. Currently, those exempt from quarantine include airline crew, banking and insurance executives, directors of public companies, and ship crews.