Hong Kong to Drop Nearly All COVID Restrictions

Facts

• This week, Hong Kong will continue relaxing nearly all of the COVID restrictions that currently remain in place. This move comes on the heels of mainland China abandoning its "zero-COVID" policy.
• On Wednesday, John Lee, the city's leader, announced that Hong Kong would be dropping the mandatory PCR testing requirement for international arrivals. The restriction went into effect in 2020 and will be dropped from Thursday.
• The special administrative region will also resume cross-border travel with the mainland with few restrictions beginning on Jan. 10. Residents traveling on business or to see family will be given priority. While most of the restrictions will be dropped, wearing masks will remain a requirement.
• Lee said, "We have always been preparing [ourselves] for normalization... I have to do it progressively, orderly, and under control, so we can assess the risk and go on." He further said the decision was made based on 2.5M people having been infected and the vaccination rate reaching 94%.
• Throughout the pandemic, Hong Kong has imposed some of the world's strictest restrictions with mandatory quarantines of up to three weeks that included separating parents from children. With the latest announcement, residents exposed to the virus will no longer be required to isolate in their homes or quarantine at government sites.
• Hong Kong is following in the footsteps of the mainland, which dropped restrictions following the protests and civil unrest of its residents over the largely criticized "zero-COVID" policy. Following the abandonment of the strict strategy, the mainland has experienced a significant surge in infections and deaths.

Sources: BBC News, DW, SCMP, and Financial Times.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Asia Investor. Hong Kong should turn its focus to its financial future. Many deals that were on the table before the pandemic have been halted while waiting for the reopening. Investors may remain leery at first, but it's up to Hong Kong and the mainland to plan properly and prudently for a successful and fruitful reopening.
• Narrative B, as provided by CNN. COVID restrictions weren't the only crackdown that took place in Hong Kong throughout the pandemic. Other issues continued to brew amid Beijing's new national security law and subsequent authoritarian crackdown. Hong Kong may claim order has been restored but international tensions have increased, which could prove troublesome for a city trying to rebound from COVID.