The quarantine policy for returning to China will be relaxed to "0 3"? Hong Kong should implement "0 0"? Don't worry, see what the authorities say!

Recently, Xiaobian has painted two pictures in the circle of friends and various Chinese groups. The content of the first picture is "Mainland China will fully open overseas entry on January 9. Adopt 0 3 mode".

The content of the second picture is "It is expected that the entry quarantine will be announced on December 19 2 3, and the entry quarantine will be on January 9, 2023 0 3".

The source of these two pictures cannot be verified, and the source cannot be found through text and pictures. However, they have been spread wildly in various Chinese circles. It is conceivable that the Chinese are eager to return to China.

With the "new ten articles on epidemic prevention" issued by the National Health Commission, many compatriots living in foreign countries have wondered whether the "policy of returning to China" will also be relaxed.

In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning responded.

On December 7, 2022, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning presided over a regular press conference. The following is a partial record.

AFP: Today, the State Council's Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism issued ten guidelines for the prevention and control of the new crown epidemic. Will China adjust the relevant immigration policy? Will the quarantine time be shortened? Do passengers on flights to China still need to show a nucleic acid negative certificate?

Mao Ning: The State Council's joint prevention and control mechanism has released relevant information. You can refer to the specific adjustment of prevention and control measures. In the past three years, the Chinese government has always adhered to the supremacy of the people and the supremacy of life, constantly optimizing and improving prevention and control measures in accordance with the situation, and coordinating the prevention and control of the epidemic and economic and social development. In the face of the new situation and new tasks of epidemic prevention and control, China has made adjustments to epidemic prevention measures, reflecting the spirit of seeking truth from facts and advancing with the times. We will study and introduce new measures to facilitate cross-border personnel exchanges and remote prevention and control in the light of the adjustment of domestic epidemic prevention and control policies.

On December 7, the spokesperson of the National Health Commission, Mi Feng, said at a press conference that we will also follow laws and regulations, gradually advance, accelerate, and further optimize and improve measures for foreign defense imports such as immigration management.

Prior to this, Hong Kong media also reported that "the mainland epidemic prevention has made a sharp turn, and Hong Kong can take advantage of the situation to strive for customs clearance"!

On December 8, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government announced that starting from Friday (December 9), the isolation and quarantine days for Hong Kong confirmed patients and immigrants will be shortened from seven days to five days, but the current social distance measures remain unchanged.

1. According to the current "0 3" system, immigrants are still required to undergo nucleic acid testing on the day of arrival and the third day, that is, three days of medical monitoring, and restrictions on city-wide operations, and then rapid antigen testing must be carried out every day to the seventh day after arrival.

2. After completing the arrival and the nucleic acid test on the third day, the inbound personnel only need to receive the quick test every day for five days instead of seven days.

3. The quarantine order for confirmed Hong Kong citizens has also been shortened from seven days to five days. Under the new arrangement, if the quick tests on the fourth and fifth days are negative, the isolation can be lifted on the fifth day.

4. The isolation period of close contacts will also be shortened from seven days to five days. This arrangement also applies to close contacts who have not been vaccinated against crown disease. Prior to this, people who have not been vaccinated will be required to be quarantined for 14 days.

5. Social distancing measures will continue to be extended for two weeks to December 28, I .e. the mask order will not be lifted for the time being.

Jin Dongyan, a professor at the School of Biomedicine of the University of Hong Kong, said today (8th) that some of the ten new measures for epidemic prevention in the Mainland refer to Hong Kong practices, such as replacing nucleic acid testing with rapid testing and allowing confirmed patients to be isolated at home.

The decision on customs clearance between the two places does not lie with Hong Kong, but if conditions permit, Hong Kong can take one more step, such as relaxing entry quarantine to "0 0".

(Professor Jin Dongyan, School of Biomedicine, University of Hong Kong)

The relaxation of Hong Kong's epidemic prevention policy has also deepened netizens' conjecture.

For the unofficially confirmed news on the Internet, it is still necessary to maintain "no rumors, no rumors", but with the gradual relaxation of the current domestic epidemic prevention policy, the optimization of the "entry policy" is just around the corner.