Shorter Quarantine for Fully Vaccinated; No government quarantine for residents of building with only one covid case

Residents of buildings with only one covid-19 case, including the mutant strain, will self-monitor instead of going to government quarantine centres, Dr Ronald Lam, Controller of the Centre of Health Protection, said today in a press conference.

More than 1,000 residents are being released from quarantine centres, including from Kornhill and Caribbean Coast where mutant strain cases were found, after they test negative.

“To prevent further transmission, a very cautious approach needs to be taken,” Dr Lam said in the press conference.

Close contacts still need to quarantine, Dr Lam said, but the fully vaccinated will have seven days of home confinement plus seven days of self-monitoring. Department of Health clarified at night that close contacts still need to go to government quarantine centres plus seven days of self-monitoring.

Fully vaccinated includes those with a “full course” after 14 days. People who have recovered from Covid-19 within nine months are also included.

Onee Chan, a resident at Kornhill who was sent to the government quarantine centre at Penny’s Bay yesterday, said she was speechless over the new measure. She said it was not sensible to put all residents into the quarantine centre.

“The requirements to release are also nonsense. It’s absolutely annoying to ask us to do testing at their centre on our own. How can they guarantee everybody to strictly follow? Self monitoring is a joke. We’ve been self monitoring ourselves for more than a year,” Ms Chan said.

Shorter hotel quarantines were also announced for airport arrivals from designated countries beginning May 12.

Measures for extremely high-risk and very high-risk areas, including the United Kingdom, remain unchanged.

Control measures for quarantine hotels will also be reviewed, said Dr Lam.