Government increases supply of designated quarantine hotels to meet demand of Hong Kong residents returning from overseas
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The Government said today (March 26) that it strives to increase the supply of designated quarantine hotels (DQHs) so as to meet the demand of Hong Kong residents returning from overseas (including foreign domestic helpers (FDHs) who are Hong Kong residents or have been granted visa to come to Hong Kong).
The Government has announced that, with effect from April 1, the place-specific flight suspension mechanism for nine places would be lifted and the quarantine arrangement for Hong Kong residents returning from overseas would be adjusted. In anticipation of the growing number of returning Hong Kong residents, the Government will increase the supply of DQHs in an orderly manner to meet the demand, while guarding against the importation of COVID-19 cases at the same time.
Specifically, after assessing the supply and demand as well as the usage of community isolation facilities (CIFs), the Government decided to convert 13 hotels (list at Annex 1), which have earlier been turned into CIFs, back to DQHs to supplement over 4 400 rooms on top of the current supply. These DQHs will commence service progressively from April 1 onwards and will start to accept room bookings for the relevant period gradually. The Government has also asked existing DQHs to release around 500 blocked-off rooms to meet the demand. To sum up, there will be 38 DQHs providing over 10 000 rooms in total for selection by Hong Kong residents returning from places other than the Mainland and Macao.
Separately, three hotels which are currently isolation facilities will be reserved for FDHs to undergo quarantine starting from April 1. Along with one existing designated quarantine facility for FDHs, the four hotels (list at Annex 2) will provide about 1 600 rooms. For details regarding the quarantine arrangements for FDHs, please refer to the Labour Department’s FDH Portal www.fdh.labour.gov.hk.
The Government will update regularly the list of DQHs and their booking status on the thematic website www.designatedhotel.gov.hk.
The Government fully implemented the Designated Quarantine Hotel Scheme on December 22, 2020, requiring all arrivals from specified places to undergo compulsory quarantine at DQHs with a view to further preventing the importation of COVID-19 cases and reducing contact between arrivals and the local community. Under the Scheme, 44 DQHs were expected to provide service from March 1 to July 31 this year. Nevertheless, the Government converted some of them into CIFs to tackle the fifth wave of the epidemic.