Many chambers of commerce in the city have asked repeatedly for the city to reopen to visitors at the earliest opportunity since the restrictions make it hard for businesses to connect with clients and compete internationally. The prolonged restrictions are hurting Hong Kong's competitiveness, said Tara Joseph, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong. Lam, Hong Kong’s leader, has emphasized she's more concerned with resuming quarantine-free cross-border travel with mainland China than with international travel. Only travelers from China are largely exempted from quarantine, though those travelling from Hong Kong into most provinces in mainland China must still isolate for 3 weeks. Travelers arriving from certain African countries such as South Africa and Zimbabwe that have reported locally-transmitted omicron infections must spend seven days at a government facility while undergoing daily testing and then stay two weeks at a hotel, also at their own expense.
Hong Kong authorities have designated about 60 countries as high-risk areas including the U.S., Britain, Australia and any country with confirmed omicron cases.įor travelers from high-risk areas, only Hong Kong residents are allowed in and they must quarantine at their own expense for 21 days at a hotel. The restrictions have tightened further in light of the new omicron coronavirus variant, which was confirmed in at least four people in the city. Hong Kong's “COVID-zero” stance is in line with mainland China's policy of largely shutting its doors to the international world to try to prevent cases being brought into the country.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said Dimon was given an exception related to the economy and that JPMorgan “is a very huge bank with key business in Hong Kong.”Īctress Nicole Kidman also was exempted when she visited the city to film parts of a television series about expatriates, drawing ire from critics and local lawmakers over whether celebrities should be allowed to come and skip quarantine when Hong Kong residents pay dearly to return home. Some fumed when the city granted an exemption to the rules for JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who visited the city for about a day in November.