On March 21, Chief Executive of Hong Kong, Carrie Lam, announced that the Hong Kong Government will lift the flight ban on nine countries and cut the hotel quarantine period for arrivals from April 1, 2022.
Carrie Lam said that residents of nine countries, including India, the United Kingdom and the United States would be allowed to return home starting April 1. The other nations are Australia, Canada, France, Nepal, Pakistan and the Philippines.
Travelers entering the city can also quarantine for as little as seven days in quarantine hotels — down from 14 days — if they test negative for the virus on the sixth and seventh days of their quarantine. Such travelers must also be fully vaccinated and test negative for the coronavirus before entering the city.
Flights from the nine countries were banned earlier this year, as the Omicron variant was spreading across the world. Lam said the bans weren’t necessary anymore since the coronavirus situation in Hong Kong was no longer any better than in other countries.