Foreign participants at a high-profile financial summit in Hong Kong next month would be able to skip isolation and leave via "appropriate flight arrangements" if they catch Covid, a top health official said Friday.

The comments followed media reports that attendees — expected to include top executives from some of the world's most powerful financial institutions — would be allowed to leave on private jets if they test positive for the coronavirus.

Hong Kong is aiming to reassert its position as a global financial hub with the summit, organised by the city's central bank, after being effectively cut off because of its strict Covid policies — especially for international travellers.

If a summit participant tests positive for the coronavirus, "we will adopt the same isolation arrangements as with other inbound visitors," Permanent Secretary for Health Thomas Chan told a press conference when asked if any rules would be relaxed for the event.

"But at the same time we will also provide facilitation should there be appropriate flight arrangements for leaving Hong Kong."

Commercial airlines are restricted from transporting virus-positive passengers to and from Hong Kong.

Bloomberg News had reported Thursday that the Hong Kong government was considering allowing participants at the two-day summit to leave by private jet if they test positive.

Hong Kong has had a difficult three years, with a sweeping crackdown on political freedoms and the imposition of some of the world's strictest coronavirus pandemic controls, which kept it isolated even as competitors such as Singapore reopened.

It scrapped mandatory hotel quarantine for travellers last month, as warnings grew that the financial hub was suffering brain drain and loss of business.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority expects to draw 200 participants to the event, including the heads of 30 major financial institutions including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

Some Covid restrictions, such as face masks, remain in Hong Kong.

Chief Executive John Lee has not yet outlined a roadmap for full reopening, and has said that the city must remain cautious while relaxing virus curbs.

Hong Kong broke law by scrapping vaccine exemptions: court
Hong Kong (AFP) Oct 21, 2022 –

Hong Kong's government broke the law when it invalidated thousands of certificates exempting people from coronavirus vaccinations, a court ruled Friday, in a rare rebuke of the city's strict pandemic controls.

Coronavirus jabs are not mandatory in Hong Kong, but the Chinese city uses a QR healthcode system that denies unvaccinated people access to many public premises.

Police have accused seven doctors of issuing fraudulent exemptions in recent months in a city where coronavirus vaccine hesitancy is pronounced, especially among the elderly.

After arresting the medics, local authorities announced some 20,000 exemption certificates would be declared invalid.

But High Court judge Russell Coleman ruled that such a move was not supported by Hong Kong's public health laws.

"A government minister gets his or her legal powers from legislation — and not from an announcement made in a press release," Coleman wrote on Friday.

Hong Kong's unelected government has used emergency powers to pass some of the strictest pandemic rules in the world — including compulsory mask wearing and bans on large outdoor gatherings — which remain in place to this day.

The emergency legislation set out how exemption certificates work, but offered no solution when the document's validity was disputed, the judge said.

Health Secretary Lo Chung-mau said he would respond to the ruling after studying it with the Department of Justice.

The legal challenge against the invalidation was started by Kwok Cheuk-kin, a resident known as the "king of judicial reviews" who often uses the courts to scrutinise government policies.

Government lawyers had argued that it was necessary to nullify "questionable" certificates to reduce infection risks, adding that people could still get replacements if they qualified.

They also said unvaccinated residents could carry on their business and could, for example, buy takeaway food instead of going into restaurants.

Hong Kong's fully vaccinated rate is around 90 percent. But over 360,000 people over the age of 60 — the demographic most at risk of dying — remain unvaccinated.

Authorities have arrested at least 26 people, including five government employees, for allegedly using improperly issued exemption documents.