In the time since my last message, we have come full circle on the quarantine requirements for UK arrivals in Hong Kong. In April the United Kingdom was designated a country of “Extremely High Risk” for the purposes of COVID quarantine arrangements – category A1. The designation moved to “Very High Risk” - or category A2 – and then to “High Risk” – or category B, all within the space of a little over one month. This has serious consequences for international businesses. In the Extremely High-Risk category no direct flights to Hong Kong are permitted. In the High-Risk category arriving passengers get credit for vaccination and as a result can reduce their hotel quarantine arrangements to one week only if they produce a positive antibody test, otherwise the period is two weeks. As most of you will know since 1st July the UK is now back in the Extremely High-Risk category.
blessed with an extremely strong and active Healthcare Committee and digital health has been a focus area for them for some time. We are planning an event around this subject for later in the year and I urge you to look out for the notices. I hope you enjoy this month’s magazine and if you do have any comments on the new format then please do let the Executive Team know.
Peter Burnett Chairman, The British Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong
For the Chamber and our members there are significant impacts, especially when the changes happen so quickly. It makes planning very difficult. The problem, it seems to me, lies on both sides – the UK has seen a rapidly rising number of new COVID cases with the Delta variant emerging as the latest scourge. Moreover, a significant number of imported cases in Hong Kong were arrivals from the UK. In Hong Kong, the Government does not want to let its guard down for as long as the vaccination levels in the community are low and is therefore doing all it can to stop the Delta variant from entering the community. We therefore face a conundrum. For those of us that have completed our vaccination programme this is very frustrating. We need to encourage the Hong Kong community to get vaccinated so that a relaxation in restrictions will be more feasible. And in the meantime, we must hope that the infection levels start to slow down in the UK as the high vaccination rate there has its expected impact. The theme of this month’s magazine is digital health. The pandemic of the last 18 months has focused attention on the supreme importance of good health and at the same time has forced all businesses to reconsider and reinvent their digitization strategies. Nothing could be more relevant for healthcare at this time therefore than this theme. At BritCham we are gg Britain in Hong Kong
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