Speaking at her daily Covid briefing, Lam noted that it had been almost a month since the government announced on February 22 a series of anti-epidemic measures – such as a plan for universal testing – and the Covid situation in Hong Kong had since changed rapidly.
“I have a very strong feeling that people’s tolerance is fading. I have a very good feel that some of our financial institutions are losing patience about this sort of isolated status of Hong Kong,” she said.
Lam said she would update the public on Sunday or Monday about the future direction of all the measures, including flight bans, the quarantine period for arrivals, territory-wide testing, school resumption and other social distancing measures.
She hinted also that the quarantine period for inbound travellers might be shortened from 14 days to seven, but added that the government has to take into consideration the burden on public hospitals.
“The period for the quarantine order or the isolation order [for Covid patients in Hong Kong and their close contacts] is still 14 days, but what the Centre for Health Protection has put in is if you do a rapid antigen test on days six and seven and it turns out to be negative, you will be regarded as discharged and you can resume your normal living,” the CE said.
“So in terms of consistency, there’s a very strong basis for us to apply more or less the same rule to arrivals.”
When asked about some mainland netizens’ criticism over Hong Kong’s anti-epidemic efforts, Lam said there are many comments, speculation and rumours on social media platforms, and the best response is to “not look, not listen and not believe”.
