Hong Kong scaled back on its compulsory quarantine requirement while it extended the flight ban from select countries amid the continuous spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.

The Hong Kong government made the announcement on January 27 that from February 5, the compulsory quarantine period for inbound travellers from overseas places will be adjusted to 14 days in designated quarantine hotels (DQHs), to be followed by a seven-day self-monitoring period. 

This is shorter than the 21 days earlier required.

Meanwhile, the place-specific flight suspension mechanism for Australia, Canada, France, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, the United Kingdom and the United States of America has been extended for 14 days more days to February 18.

"We understand that the place-specific flight suspension mechanism is an extremely stringent emergency measure, and the relevant measure will inevitably affect the return journeys of Hong Kong residents returning from these eight places. However, we must act decisively to lower the risk to the local epidemic situation so as to quickly quell the epidemic situation, such that it would not be necessary to maintain the most stringent prevention and control measures for a long time," a Hong Kong spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong has yet to make any changes to its tighter air crew quarantine measures which continue to impact air cargo operation in one of the world's busiest cargo hubs.