HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s status as an international hub has been “undermined” by strict coronavirus border controls, outgoing leader Carrie Lam admitted on Friday (Jun 10), just a day after saying she would not further lift restrictions before departing.
The once vibrant Asian business hub is mired in its third year of pandemic isolation as it hews to China’s zero-COVID strategy, which seeks to control outbreaks with lockdowns, social distancing and border controls.
Hong Kong last month reopened to vaccinated non-residents but international arrivals must still undergo seven days of quarantine.
“The border control measures have really made people very impatient, and of course, have undermined Hong Kong’s status as a hub,” Lam said in an interview with CNBC.
“If you cannot travel freely to other places and into the mainland, how could you be a hub?”
Lam is due to step down on Jun 30 after a five-year term that saw huge democracy protests and COVID-19 outbreaks that left more than 9,000 people dead.
On Thursday, Lam announced that pandemic restrictions will not be further loosened during her remaining time in office.
But in the Friday interview, Lam agreed that a more flexible quarantine policy would bring people back to Hong Kong.
“Once we could bring down the hotel quarantine period or, as some have suggested, replace it with home quarantine measures, I’m sure we will be seeing a lot of people coming to Hong Kong,” she told CNBC.
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