With effect from 12 August, the Hong Kong government will shorten the quarantine period for arrivals from overseas regions or Taiwan to "3+4", that is, 7-day mandatory quarantine to 3-day compulsory quarantine and 4-day medical supervision, and cooperate with the red and yellow codes for safe travel, prohibiting arrivals from dine-in and entering some premises during the quarantine period.
Vulnerabilities were discovered as soon as the new program was launched. Ms. S, a Thai "bride who crossed the port", conducted a test with this reporter and found that although she had arrived in Hong Kong for 4 days, her safe travel display was still blue code, that is, she could freely enter and exit all restricted places, making the red and yellow code epidemic prevention measures useless. Nevertheless, Ms S advises inbound persons who encounter the same situation to be self-disciplined, self-restricting their travel and avoiding risks to others.
Text: Ye Peiyu Photo: Huang Guanhua
Ms S arrived in Hong Kong from Thailand on 12 August, just in time to be the first beneficiary of "3+4".
The Hong Kong government announced earlier to optimize the entry measures, from 12 August, from 12 August, the quarantine arrangement for arrivals from overseas regions or Taiwan will become "3+4", and the first nucleic acid test on arrival will be regarded as the 0th day of calculation, during which safe travel will be displayed as a yellow code, and arrivals must stay in mandatory quarantine at designated quarantine hotels for 3 nights before they can complete quarantine on the morning of the 3rd day, and then undergo 4 days of medical supervision, during which the safe travel will continue to be yellow code.
During the medical surveillance period, arrivals can live at home or in their own places, and when the medical monitoring is completed on the morning of the 7th day, the safe travel will change back to the blue code, and the arrivals will be free to enter and exit all the places. In addition, inbound persons are required to undergo daily express tests until the 10th day, and nucleic acid tests are required on the 4th, 6th and 9th days.
On the 4th day of arrival, the yellow code is still blue
Although the government documents explained the red and yellow codes to Miss S, her safe travel did not turn yellow from the time she stayed at the quarantine hotel.
Miss S, a "bride who crossed the port", came to Hong Kong from Thailand this time, preparing to marry her long-distance boyfriend in Hong Kong and settle in Hong Kong, she was scheduled to arrive in Hong Kong in early August, but she was delayed due to a sudden diagnosis, and finally became the first recipient of "3+4" due to misfortune. The reporter of "Jian Magazine" met with Miss S, who was still under medical supervision on the evening of August 12. At that time, she was on the 4th day of arrival in Hong Kong, and when entering and leaving the relevant premises, she should have shown a yellow code, but whether she went to or from a shopping mall or supermarket, her safe travel was displayed as a blue code.
On the same day, the reporter and Miss S continued to test, and they all saw the blue code, her safe travel is the latest version of 3.4.0, and the mobile phone also has a calling card to access the Internet. Blue Code said that after leaving the quarantine hotel, Miss S can enter restaurants, game console centers, fitness centers, indoor public entertainment venues, etc. at will, and needs to actively verify the premises of the "Vaccine Pass". The test results show that the red and yellow code function of safe travel is full of loopholes, and the entry epidemic prevention is useless.
According to Miss S's later explanation, her safe travel was blue code from the day she left the quarantine hotel until the 5th day, and the yellow code was not changed until noon on the 5th day.
Hong Kong government employees explained that there may be a problem with the system
Miss S tried to scan the QR code of the restaurant, but the result was still a blue code, showing that there was a serious vulnerability in the red and yellow code system.
The reporter called the safe travel hotline to inquire about the situation of Miss S. Miss S is a recovered person who has already received two injections, is it because she has been infected with the epidemic and can travel with peace of mind that she will show up as a blue code during medical supervision? A government employee who answered the phone responded: "The red and yellow code has nothing to do with whether the arrival is recovered or not, and the yellow code is the yellow code without a diagnosis."
The reporter asked, why is Miss S's safe travel still blue code on the 4th day during the medical supervision? The government employee said: "It may be related to the fact that Safe Travel has not been updated to the latest version, the latest version is 3.4.0." However, when the reporter said that it was the latest version, the government employee also said that it depended on whether the phone was connected to the Internet. When the reporter pointed out that the mobile phone can access the Internet and has a 4G calling card, the other party suggested that the reporter browse the www.evt.gov.hk to view the vaccination record, pointing out that it may be related to the fact that the needle card is not refreshed.
When the reporter asked the yellow code person whether he could enter and exit some specific places, the other party moved the words and read the paper like a tape recorder, and said that the red and yellow code place was responsible for the FEHD, and suggested that the reporter call 28680000 to make another inquiry.
Because the answer was not satisfactory, the reporter then called the safe travel hotline, and another employee said: "The blue code was not replaced by Huangma in time, it may be a system problem or a version problem, it is recommended that the arrival can personally call the hotline to understand, colleagues will help check the system."
Miss S: The quarantine policy is chaotic and complicated
Miss S hopes that people in the same situation as her can be a little more disciplined and not take advantage of the loopholes of safe travel.
For not having to quarantine in the hotel for 7 days, Miss S said: "Of course, I am very happy, because it is very convenient and the cost has been reduced, originally the 7-day quarantine hotel even 3 meals cost 4,830 yuan, and now saves nearly 3,000 yuan." However, she was slightly dissatisfied with the arrangement of the quarantine-related staff, because no one had ever explained the red and yellow codes to her, and no one had told her where the yellow code status could go and where she could not go: "But they gave me a lot of documents, which made me feel a little confused, and if the documents could be briefed, it would be clearer." 」
Asked if the Government issued appropriate quarantine announcements, such as Japanese, Korean, Thai, Indonesian, etc., according to the nationalities and languages of arrivals, would it be helpful for foreigners to understand quarantine details? She said, "Of course it's best, I don't speak English very well, so I don't understand everything 100% at the moment."
Ms. S said that before arriving in Hong Kong, she had already checked what documents to prepare, such as the reservation confirmation of the designated quarantine hotel, the QR code for health declaration, the quick test results within 24 hours before boarding, etc., which were very complicated: "Although I prepared in advance, I still did not know the quarantine details and requirements before going to the quarantine hotel after arriving in Hong Kong. However, the entry process is still OK, and it is very quick, but it may be that because I have a one-way ticket, the immigration department has spent some extra time to verify."
Asked if she would be confused about the setting of the red and yellow codes, Ms. S said that she did not know the color code distinction before: "Now I know that the yellow code seems to need to be monitored, and there is a chance that people who have the opportunity to be infected with the new crown virus are not aware of the difference between the yellow codes. The red code is someone who has already been diagnosed, right?"
Arrivals should not take advantage of loopholes to walk around
When she visited, Miss S was on the 4th day of the quarantine period, which should be a yellow code, but she showed a blue code when traveling with peace of mind, and despite this, she would still try to minimize contact with people: "Not because of the external danger, but because I may be a risk factor for others." Always arriving from a foreign country, I don't know if the passengers on the plane are safe or if the plane is clean."
Although there is a blue code, Miss S still does not "go around" because of this: "I know that the quarantine period is not over, so some places should not go, I hope that people in the same situation as me can be self-disciplined, do not take advantage of loopholes to walk around, bringing potential dangers to the community." 」
Ms S also heard that some friends around them wanted to come to Hong Kong, but they were deterred by the long number of quarantine days earlier, believing that after the implementation of "3+4", the cost of quarantine hotels was reduced, which was good news for them and could attract them to visit Hong Kong.
Everyone wants the world to get back to normal soon
For Thailand, South Korea, Singapore and many other places that have resumed customs clearance, Ms. S believes that everyone hopes that the world will soon return to normal, and she believes that the most important thing for everyone is to pay attention to hygiene and carefully protect the hard-won "freedom". Asked if the fact that yellow code people are not allowed to enter and leave some places will affect her, she laughed and said: "When I first arrived in Hong Kong, I was not familiar with the road of life, and I didn't have many friends, so I didn't have much place to go." However, she did not know when she would return to the blue code when she would travel with peace of mind, but she kept refreshing the app every day, hoping to complete the quarantine as soon as possible, go out to feel and try the authentic food of Hong Kong.
The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) announced that on 14-15 August, a total of 55 yellow-coded people arriving in Hong Kong were confirmed on days 4 to 7, with a CT value of less than 30, i.e. enough to spread the virus in the community. On 18 August, a total of 50 yellow code holders were confirmed on days 4 to 7, with an average of 20% of those arriving in Hong Kong confirmed on days 4 to 7.
Lin Zhexuan: One is self-discipline and the other is law enforcement
Lin Zhexuan pointed out that epidemic prevention measures do not mean to follow foreign countries or only follow the mainland, everything depends on Hong Kong's data and science.
Lim Chek-xuan, a member of the Legislative Council of the Medical and Health Sector, said that with the increase in the number of people entering Hong Kong, the circuit breaker mechanism has been stopped, and the "3+4" quarantine time has been reduced, and more people will be diagnosed after entering the community, which is within expectations: "The question is how many people are there, relative to the transmission chain in Hong Kong's own community, what we have seen so far, there are people diagnosed after entering the community, but not many, the most important thing is whether the yellow code people have maintained social distancing and worn masks when they enter the community, which is the most important."
Lin Zhexuan stressed that the red and yellow code is only a tool to help everyone identify people with transmission risks, he reminded people with transmission risks to be careful: "How to use the tool (red and yellow code) is the key, one is self-discipline, the other is law enforcement, in fact, the medical supervision period is only a few days, for their own sake, but also for their families and the public, I hope that everyone can self-discipline, or the government can strengthen law enforcement." However, the government's enforcement of health has not been very successful for many years, which is a pity."
Incorrect use of "tools" will cause accidents
Asked about the situation of Miss S, Lin Zhexuan admitted that it should not be right to not turn the yellow code on the 5th day of arrival in Hong Kong, he lamented that the government's introduction of the red and yellow code process is too urgent because it is fast, first of all, chief executive Li Jiachao only came on in July, and July and August have been summer vacation, many students have returned to Hong Kong, and before September, many people will have to go to foreign countries to study: "But hurry up, if there are loopholes after the launch, they should be repaired as soon as possible." Everyone should also be humanized, do not say that the yellow code has not changed, just think that they are really fine, always know that the number of days of isolation has not passed, as I just said, the red and yellow code is only a tool, even if the tool is still a blue code, everyone knows that it should actually be yellow, they should be careful. (Epidemic prevention) needs to be done together by everyone to maintain a relatively low infection rate in Hong Kong, and if the tools are not used well, or if the tools are used incorrectly, there will be "accidents.")
Hong Kong has not yet had the condition to fully switch
Miss S's safe trip did not turn yellow until noon on the 5th day of arrival, which was 5 and a half days late.
Lim revealed that with the implementation of the "3+4" measures, it has indeed succeeded in attracting more people to visit Hong Kong, although it is difficult to distinguish whether it is due to the return of seasonal overseas students, but it is believed that the new measures will be attractive to tourists. He heard the business community talk about the fact that many customers have suggested meetings in Hong Kong, which shows that it has helped a certain amount: "In fact, thousands of people have been recorded at the airport every day in recent days, and there has been an upward trend."
As for whether the "3+4" will further relax the space, Lin Zhexuan said with a smile: "Of course, the public would like 0+7 to monitor itself, but they must act according to the data. The number of infections is still relatively small or tolerable compared to the overall chain of community transmission in Hong Kong, but it will be further observed in the future. On the other hand, it also depends on whether Hong Kong's vaccination data is satisfactory, and we hope that everyone will be able to get the injection."
Vaccinations can ideally be relaxed
It is rumored that Japan will officially open up free travel in September and October, will Hong Kong consider following suit in the short term? Lam asked whether Hong Kong could tolerate a similar situation by adding more than 100,000 confirmed cases a day in Japan: "Can our medical system afford it?" At present, thousands of new cases are added every day, there are more than 50 people to enter the intensive care department, and the Hong Kong ICU only has 200 or 300 beds, if the number of severe cases is 10 times more, there is no need to do anything else."
However, Lim believes that if Hong Kong, like Singapore, has an ideal vaccination situation and a low number of severe cases and mortality rates, then it can be considered to relax again: "It is not that we should follow foreign countries, or all follow the mainland, everything depends on the data, it must look at science." 」