Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu met with health authorities yesterday for final discussions on shortening the hotel quarantine for inbound travelers, with the decision expected to be announced together with the implementation of the red-yellow vaccine pass system.

Lee held the meeting with the task force on epidemic control measures as well as health and innovation technology officials.

They discussed shortening quarantine for overseas arrivals to four or five days, followed by two or three days of home isolation, as well as a time frame for the relaxation of border measures with the mainland.

However, no announcements were made after the meeting.

Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau said the new vaccine pass system will be launched in two phases, with the first to be rolled out with the shortened hotel quarantine arrangement.

This means a yellow pass will be issued to incoming travelers from overseas and Taiwan, and red ones will be given to Covid patients undergoing home quarantine.

"With this arrangement, we can ensure these travelers undergo medical surveillance while having their hotel quarantine period shortened," Lo said.

A yellow-colored pass will allow people to still go to work or enter schools, but they will be prohibited from entering high-risk areas where masks can be removed as well as hospitals and residential care homes.

In the second phase, the yellow pass will be extended to household contacts of patients.

Lo expected that there will be people who would violate the red-yellow pass system, but warned that authorities will strictly enforce it. Violators will face penalties similar to those taking off electronic bracelets - up to HK$10,000 fine and six months in jail.

He said the electronic health declaration system implemented last month for overseas arrivals will become compulsory in the future to streamline the procedures upon arrival, making the time needed to receive a quarantine order and getting PCR test results shorten to an hour and a half.

Lo added that the SAR government has never "flat out lied" about resuming quarantine-free travel between the mainland and Hong Kong as more concise anti-epidemic measures are needed.

He admitted that it is hard to resume quarantine-free travel due to the differences in the Covid situation across the border, but he added that authorities will continue to talk to Guangdong and Shenzhen governments.

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