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New Quarantine Hotel List Announced: 22 June – 20 August, 2021

An updated list of 31 designated Hong Kong quarantine hotels for the period 22 June – 20 August 2021 (fourth cycle) has been released.

The list of designated hotels in the fourth cycle and related details such as room rates have been uploaded to www.coronavirus.gov.hk/eng/designated-hotel.html

Or download the pdf here

There is an excellent google docs form here about the various hotels including room prices, contact details, restrictions,

Central and Western District
1. Best Western Plus Hotel Hong Kong
2. CM+ Hotels & Serviced Apartments
3. Grand City Hotel
4. JEN Hong Kong by Shangri-La
5. Lan Kwai Fong Hotel @ Kau U Fong
6. One-Eight-One Hotel & Serviced Residences
7. Ramada Hong Kong Harbour View
8. The Landmark Mandarin Oriental

Hong Kong Eastern District
1. Ramada Hong Kong Grand View

Islands District
1. Four Points by Sheraton Hong Kong Tung Chung
2. Regal Airport Hotel

Kowloon City District
1. Bridal Tea House Hotel Hung Hom Gillies Avenue South
2. iclub Ma Tau Wai Hotel
3. Kerry Hotel, Hong Kong
4. Metropark Hotel Kowloon Hong Kong
5. Regal Oriental Hotel

Kwai Tsing District
1. Dorsett Tsuen Wan

Hong Kong Southern District
1. Nina Hotel Island South (Formerly L’hotel Island South)
2. Ovolo Southside

Tsuen Wan District
1. Silka Far East Hotel Hong Kong

Wan Chai District
1. Best Western Hotel Causeway Bay
2. Dorsett Wanchai Hong Kong
3. Hotel Indigo Hong Kong Island
4. Mira Moon Hotel
5. Vela Boutique Hotel
6. Eco Tree Hotel Causeway Bay

Wong Tai Sin District
1. Pentahotel Hong Kong

Kowloon Yau Tsim Mong District
1. Bridal Tea House Hotel Yau Ma Tei Wing Sing Lane
2. Dorsett Mongkok Hong Kong
3. Ramada Hong Kong Grand
4. Silka Seaview Hotel Hong Kong

Boarding and Quarantine Arrangements for Persons Arriving in Hong Kong

Adjusted boarding, quarantine and testing arrangements for persons arriving in Hong Kong (including Hong Kong residents) will apply from 12 May for those who have completed their COVID-19 vaccination course.

Overseas places outside China have been categorised under the Prevention and Control of Disease (Regulation of Cross-boundary Conveyances and Travellers) Regulation (Cap. 599H) into extremely high-risk Group A1 specified places, very high-risk Group A2 specified places, high-risk Group B specified places, medium-risk Group C specified places, and low-risk Group D specified places.

Low-risk Group D

Under the new arrangements, persons who have stayed in low-risk Group D specified places, and who have been fully vaccinated, will be subject to compulsory quarantine in designated quarantine hotels for seven days (originally 14 days). They will subsequently be required to self-monitor for seven days and undergo compulsory testing on the 12th day of their arrival at Hong Kong.

Medium-risk Group C, High-risk Group B

For persons who have stayed in medium-risk Group C specified places and high-risk Group B specified places, and who have been fully vaccinated, they will be subject to compulsory quarantine in designated quarantine hotels for 14 days (originally 21 days), and subsequently, be required to self-monitor for seven days and undergo compulsory testing on the 16th and 19th day of their arrival at Hong Kong.

Extremely High-risk Group A1, Very High-risk Group A2

As for extremely high-risk Group A1 specified places and very high-risk Group A2 specified places, the boarding, quarantine, and testing arrangements will remain unchanged.

For persons who have stayed in Group A1 specified places Brazil, India, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines and South Africa) for more than two hours, they WILL NOT be allowed to board any passenger flight for Hong Kong.

For very high-risk Group A2 specified places, the relevant persons will be subject to compulsory quarantine in designated quarantine hotels for 21 days (with the number of tests to be conducted during the period increased to at least four times), subsequent seven-day self-monitoring, and compulsory testing on the 26th day of their arrival at Hong Kong. The shortened quarantine period for fully vaccinated persons will not be applicable.

Persons arriving from China (the Mainland, Macau and Taiwan) who did not return under the Return2hk Scheme. The compulsory quarantine period for relevant fully vaccinated persons, whether arriving at Hong Kong via land boundary control points or the airport, will also be shortened from 14 days to seven days, with a subsequent seven-day self-monitoring period and compulsory testing on the 12th day of arrival at Hong Kong.

Fully vaccinated means persons who have received the necessary doses as stipulated in guidelines of a COVID-19 vaccination course 14 days prior to their arrival at Hong Kong.

Details on the grouping of specified places and their respective boarding and compulsory quarantine requirements can be found at www.coronavirus.gov.hk/eng/high-risk-places.html.

Updated Quarantine Requirements for Vaccinated Close Contacts

The Government today (7 May) announced updated quarantine requirements for vaccinated close contacts of locally acquired COVID-19 cases.

Close Contacts of Locally Acquired Cases Who Do NOT Have a Mutant Strain

The duration of compulsory quarantine is shortened to seven days of quarantine in a Quarantine Centre, counting from the last day of exposure to the confirmed case (the day of last exposure is regarded as Day 0), provided the following three criteria have been satisfied:

(a) documented proof of completion of two doses of CoronaVac or BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines, and that 14 days have passed from the date of receiving the second dose#; and

(b) results of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of the respiratory specimens taken on Day 0 or Day 1 after admission to a QC being negative; and

(c) positive immunoglobulin G (IgG) or total antibody against SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, or positive surrogate neutralising antibody, taken after admission to a QC.

After completing the seven-day quarantine, the close contact will be subject to seven days of self-monitoring, and to compulsory testing at a community testing centre (CTC) on Day 12.

Close Contacts of Locally Acquired N501Y Mutant Strain

The duration of quarantine in a QC is shortened from 21 days to 14 days, counting from the last day of exposure to the confirmed case, provided the following three criteria have been satisfied:

(a) documented proof of completion of two doses of CoronaVac or BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines, and that 14 days have passed from the date of receiving the second dose#; and

(b) results of PCR testing of the respiratory specimens taken on Day 0 or Day 1 after admission to a QC, and those taken on Day 7 and Day 12 after last exposure to the confirmed case, being all negative; and

(c) positive IgG or total antibody against SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, or positive surrogate neutralising antibody, taken after admission to a QC.

After completing the fourteen-day quarantine, the close contact will be subject to seven days of self-monitoring, and to compulsory testing at a community testing centre (CTC) on Day 19.

# Persons Regarded as Satisfying Criteria (a):

1) close contacts who had documented past infection of COVID-19 within nine months after discharge; or

2) close contacts who had documented past infection of COVID-19 more than nine months after discharge plus one dose of CoronaVac or BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, and for whom 14 days have passed from the date of receiving the dose.

Updated Boarding and Quarantine Arrangements for Persons Arriving at Hong Kong

The HK Government announced today (May 4) the continued suspension of passenger flights from India, Nepal, Pakistan, and the Philippines, and the continued restriction on persons who have stayed in India, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Brazil, and South Africa from boarding flights for Hong Kong.

The lifting of the ban on 7 May for persons who have stayed in Ireland and the United Kingdom on boarding for Hong Kong, to allow flights to resume, subject to the compulsory quarantine and testing arrangements upon arrival at Hong Kong.

The full press release can be read here

Details on the grouping of specified places and their respective boarding and compulsory quarantine requirements can be found at www.coronavirus.gov.hk/eng/high-risk-places.html.

Compulsory Test – 1 May, 2021

The Government announced, on 1 May, that under the Prevention and Control of Disease (Compulsory Testing for Certain Persons) Regulation (Cap. 599J) it has gazetted the following compulsory testing notice and specifications, which require any person who has been present at 26 specified premises during the specified period and foreign domestic helpers (persons subject to compulsory testing) to undergo a COVID-19 nucleic acid test before 14 May, 2021.

A spokesman for the Food and Health Bureau said, “As N501Y mutant strain is with high transmissibility, for prudence’s sake, the relevant persons who had been to the places patronised by the local cases with unknown sources of infection involving N501Y mutant strain are required to undergo three tests and all foreign domestic helpers are required to undergo testing to completely cut any possible transmission chain.”

In addition, since there were outbreaks of upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) in 11 schools, and the symptoms of URTI are similar to those of COVID-19, for prudence’s sake, these 11 schools are also covered in the compulsory testing notice.

The list is massive, download from the HK Government website here

‘Vaccine Bubble’ Quarantine Arrangements

The Government today, 15, April, announced plans to shorten the quarantine period for fully vaccinated persons arriving from non-very high-risk overseas places on the basis of the “vaccine bubble”.

“As the global epidemic situation remains severe with the new virus variants still ravaging many parts of the world, the Government needs to maintain the 21-day compulsory quarantine requirement for persons who have stayed in high-risk places outside China. ”

“However, considering that the epidemic situations in certain places have stabilised and pose lower public health risks, with reference to the ‘vaccine bubble’ concept, the Government will adjust the quarantine arrangements for persons who have stayed in overseas places other than extremely high-risk and very high-risk places under the Compulsory Quarantine of Certain Persons Arriving at Hong Kong Regulation (Cap. 599C), the Compulsory Quarantine of Persons Arriving at Hong Kong from Foreign Places Regulation (Cap. 599E) and Cap. 599H,” said the spokesman.

“The basic boarding and quarantine requirements will remain unchanged for high-risk and medium-risk places (i.e. Group B and Group C specified places), but the Government will supplement in due course new arrangements applicable to fully vaccinated persons and shorten the compulsory quarantine period for the relevant persons from 21 days to 14 days under the “vaccine bubble” concept.

As for low-risk Group D specified places (i.e. Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore), the compulsory quarantine period for fully vaccinated persons will also be correspondingly shortened from 14 days to seven days in due course.

Persons that have completed quarantine under the adjusted Group B, Group C and Group D requirements will be required to self-monitor for seven days and undergo compulsory testing after their shortened quarantine.”

The Government plans to gazette and effect the new arrangements within about two weeks.

BioNTech (Comirnaty) Vaccination Resumes

BioNTech (Comirnaty) vaccination resumed today 5 April, longer lines – which at the time bc’s reporter was there were sadly disproportionately (about 80%) non-ethnic Chinese – meant the queue and injection took around 80 minutes.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2021/20210405-11pro-Second-Covid-Vaccination-BionTech-Sai-Yin-Pun/i-XS6wd54

Unfortunately at Sai Yin Pun Vaccination Centre the nurse absolutely refused to allow our reporter to take a photo of themselves getting vaccinated.

We’re not big ‘selfie’ takers, but this seemed a missed opportunity to raise communal awareness of vaccination and maybe counter some of the negative rubbish being spread by the ignorant both in Hong Kong and abroad.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2021/20210405-11pro-Second-Covid-Vaccination-BionTech-Sai-Yin-Pun/i-w86Rq7j

While the vaccine is not yet a cure, it can and will save lives! Not only of those who get infected but also of those whose jobs, livelihoods and mental health have been destroyed over the last year!

PLEASE GET VACCINATED!!! Make a booking here www.coronavirus.gov.hk

Fosun BioNTech Batch No 210102 – Update

At today’s daily press conference the Secretary for Civil Service Patrick Nip said the Hong Kong Government had received notice from Fosun Pharma/BionTech that there may be a problem with the packaging with Comirnaty batch number 210102.

BioNTech requested that vaccinations stop during the investigation period, while stressing that this is just a precaution. The Department of Health (DoH) and the CHP have decided that all local vaccinations in Hong Kong using Fosun BioNTech vaccine known as Comirnaty will stop until further notice.

Director of Health Dr. Constance Chan said the DoH has stringent protocols to monitor the distribution of medications locally.

Hong Kong has imported two batches of BioNTech vaccine:
585,000 doses on 28 February 2021 – Batch Number 210102.
758,000 doses on 7 March 2021 – Batch Number 210104.
150,000 doses from batch number 210102 have been used as of 23 March.

Dr. Chan said since these vaccinations have begun health staff have filed the following reports:
8 incidents when staff found cracks in the container.

22 incidents of leakage due to overpressure in the vile.

16 incidents of loose caps or caps that were not straight were found.

8 incidents where marks or dirt were found on the bottle

To be extra cautious whenever staff found abnormalities, they did not use these viles and threw them away.

Dr. Chan commented that those who have been vaccinated should not worry as there are very strict protocols for the staff to follow. This was echoed by Secretary for Food and Health Professor Sophia Chan who wanted to remind people that there is no evidence of any problems with the doses already administered to people in Hong Kong.

Thru their distributor Fosun Hong Kong, the Government submitted feedback to the manufacturer BioNTech. The manufacturer recommended Hong Kong suspend use of Batch Number 210102 temporarily. Batch Number 210104 is still in the warehouse and Fosun recommended that this batch not be used for the moment too. Dr. Constance Chan said that they will await the report from BioNTech as to whether batch 210104 can be used. If not, this batch will be returned, and HKGOV will request a new batch from BioNTech.

 This morning an investigation was launched by the DoH. Fosun will request BioNTech to review the procedures inside their manufacturing plant. While locally Fosun will review the arrival procedures to see if their handling in Hong Kong had anything to do with these events.

Beyond those waiting for their first dose are those waiting for the second dose. The first group of which are scheduled for this Saturday, 27 March. The DoH is pressuring BioNTech for a prompt response and report. Currently, the DoH procedure is to administer the 2nd doses on day 21. Although there are studies and recommendations that suggest the second dose be effective up to Day 42. Dr. Chan said the DoH preference is to continue with day 21 but this all depends on what the manufacturer says.

Statement from Fosun Pharma

Fosun received written notice from BioNTech on the evening of 23 March 2021 informing them that there may be a “small number of defects related to the cap of the vial” in batch number 210102.

Fosun added that “As, at the date of this announcement, there is no evidence to suggest that the safety of the relevant batches of product may be at risk.”