Leaders in Hong Kong hope the easing of requirements will help bring back tourists and businesses. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. However, the situation is still in flux, with mandates often lifted or reinstated on a day-to-day basis as cases surge or wane in a given country or new COVID-19 variants emerge. Hong Kongs tough Covid controls, which until last year also included limits on group gatherings, flight bans and long hotel quarantines, were criticized by business leaders and others, who said they were needlessly damaging peoples livelihoods, as well as the citys status as a finance center and a tourist destination. (At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. The removal of the mask mandate may help stimulate interest in Hong Kong, along with the ticket giveaway. Everyone can show their smiles and say, Hello, Hong Kong, he said, repeating the citys new tourism slogan. Under the mandate, which began in July 2020 and lasted for Cloth masks were deemed no longer acceptable, and people were required to wear medical-grade masks. The government has stated it will review its rules on outdoor mask wearing after a two-week trial period, which would place the decision sometime in early May 2022, but added that indoor mask requirements would be "unavoidable for a considerable time. England has lifted the legal mandate on face coverings. Although Hong Kong seemed like an outlier with its far-reaching mask mandate, there are still a number of countries that require masks onboard public transport and on commercial aircraft. It also got the highest ranking in COVID-19 resilience by Bloomberg. Subscribe To Our Daily Newsletter And Get News Delivered Straight To Your Inbox. According to Tourism Malaysia, 396,000 Filipino tourists visited the Southeast Asian country in 2018. But those measures could not contain the spread of the more contagious Omicron variant of the coronavirus as 2022 began. There will no longer be a need to wear a mask on Cathay Pacific flights or in its airport lounges. DeSantis won't say he's running. Hong Kong will stop requiring masks to be worn in public places from Wednesday, drawing to a close the prolonged Covid era that damaged its economy and standing in the world. Sa Sa International Holdings Ltd., which sells beauty products, climbed as much as 6.4%. The new recommendations are a major change in how the federal government is approaching pandemic guidance. Instead of heavily relying on the number of COVID-19 cases to gauge mask effectiveness, the CDC is assessing local hospital capacity and rate of hospitalisation to formulate key measures in the USA. The move will come into effect from March 1 and suggests that the administration is looking to restore some semblance of normalcy. Speaking truth to power requires allies like you. Then in February 2022, all states dropped mask mandates. Anyone can read what you share. In South Korea, for instance, they are still required on public transportation, as well as in hospitals and pharmacies. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. As of Wednesday, the city will no longer require people to wear masks indoors, outdoors or on public transportation. Harrelson conducted the interview to promote his new film Champions, but things took a turn when he was asked about his perspective on the movie business evolution since the 1990s. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? Japan has been one of the main travel destinations of Filipinos in the past years. BY Tristan Bove. Under the mandate, which took effect in July 2020, people who failed to wear masks in public could be fined about $635. 2022. But that approach didn't take into account that vaccinations are now widely available to people over age 5 and that most vaccinated people who tested positive during the omicron and delta waves experienced mostly mild symptoms that did not require hospitalization. CDC has previously recommended wearing a high-quality mask, such as a tight-fitting N95 version and avoiding areas with low vaccination levels. Taken together, an area to be "high," "medium" or "low" risk. This year and the next year, we will focus on the economy and development.. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. While most countries across the globe opened up in a phased manner with the majority relaxing the mask mandate much earlier, Hong Kong continued to follow the line Feb. 28, 2022, 12:34 PM PST / Updated April 21, 2022, 6:15 AM PDT. According to the Brazilian report, the governor of Sao Paulo city, Joao Doria tweeted, "Finally without masks. Miss a day, miss a lot. Hong Kong was one of the world's last masking holdouts. Flight crews have been subject to even more demanding requirements than passengers in many places. Masks will no longer be needed outdoors, indoors or on public transport in Hong Kong Photograph:(Reuters). 2023 Fortune Media IP Limited. Gross domestic product shrank 3.5% in 2022, contracting for the third time in four years. Terms & Conditions. It, however, still recommends wearing masks indoors and in crowded places. India Dot Com Private Limited. She reports on global health, science, and development, and her work has been published in the New York Times, The British Medical Journal, BBC, The Guardian and other outlets. For impactful stories you just cant miss, By subscribing you agree to our Privacy Policy. The US is one of the countries severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic during the early stages of the outbreak with a recorded 103 million cases. Learn how your comment data is processed. Gross domestic product shrank 3.5% in 2022, contracting for the third time in four years. While most countries across the globe opened up in a phased manner with the majority relaxing the mask mandate much earlier, Hong Kong continued to follow the line set by Beijing. hide caption. Hungary no longer requires masks anywhere. Hong Kong was one of last places on Earth to mandate mask-wearing. Additionally, Hong Kong's population shrunk dramatically during the Covid period. The Omicron surge in late 2021/early 2022 convinced several prefectures to institute restrictions on some businesses, especially bars and eateries, but those restrictions have since been lifted. Mask mandates are still in effect in a small number of places. Mateusz Maszczynski honed his skills as an international flight attendant. Authorities claiming that the virus is no longer considered a 'critical threat'. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Almost 70 percent of the population in the USA are in areas of low or medium risk. Nevertheless, face masks should still be worn in: As the number of COVID-19 infections in Spain continues to decline, the country recently removed the mandate for wearing masks in outdoor settings. Many people have stopped wearing masks but others are still opting to keep theirs on. Your body temperature is measured when you enter an airport and again before boarding the plane. Many countries have also implemented mask mandates in fact, more than the number of countries that have imposed vaccine mandates. In January, passenger volumes at the Norman Foster-designed airport were a third of the level four years earlier. Mask mandates stretching for years on end are going to run out of steam in terms of how effective they are, Dr. Sridhar said. Under Cap 599I Prevention and Control of Disease (Wearing of Mask) Regulation, the government legislation that covers the mandate, residents have been Some criticised the rule's duration and its sudden scrapping - amid wider criticism of the city's pandemic policies for the past three years. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. "It's not a good time to drop the interventions that we know have been effective. There are other precautionary measures for air travelers in China. The move comes as the government seeks to attract tourists and overseas workers to revitalize the finance hub. Your email address will not be published. Hong Kong is one of the last cities globally to still have a mask mandate. In the end, the government gave little more than a days notice that the mandate would be scrapped seemingly in response to a similar policy shift from the autonomous region of Macau which is also able to set various policies independently of Beijing. The mandate, which went into effect in mid-July 2020, imposed a more than $600 fine to those who didn't follow mask rules. All Rights Reserved. Tourists along the promenade in the Tsim Sha Tsui area in Hong Kong, on Feb. 28, 2023. Under the mandate, which began in July 2020 and lasted for 945 days, people could be fined up to HK$5,000 (530; $640). On the no-no list: Fabric or reusable masks on flights within Chile. Hong Kong has largely followed mainland China's lead in efforts to tackle the virus, including attempts to eliminate it with a "zero-Covid" strategy. Overall, Hong Kongs economy contracted by 6.1 percent in 2020; it rebounded in 2021, but shrank again in 2022. Researchers found city-level vaccine mandates to have, at most, a negligible effect on Ky., Jan. 24, 2022. Here are some countries mostly frequented by Filipinos that have eased or lifted the mandatory face mask protocol: Japan is one of the countries that controlled the spread of COVID-19 and has not seen a massive outbreak of the virus until 2021. What's he waiting for? Places where social distancing is not followed. Mexico removed all entry requirements, including the mandatory health form, on January 1, 2022. Visitors wearing protective face masks walk under decorations for the New Year at Nakamise Street leading to Senso-ji Temple at the Asakusa district, in Tokyo on January 9, 2023. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Masks are still worn in several countries in Asia. The virus is under control in Hong Kong with no major signs of a rebound, the city's leader John Lee said. More than 70% of Americans should be able to remove their masks indoors, including inside schools, under new metrics outlined Friday the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that represent a seismic shift in how the public health agency plans to measure COVID-19 risk. Coronavirus FAQ: I'm a one-way masker. The United Kingdom removed its mask restrictions for travelers in 2022. Mask rules are changing yet again, this time on public transit. With more than 92% of its population of 67+ million people vaccinated, France chose to lift the majority of its COVID-19 restrictions in March 2022. For the most part, people have followed the government's recommendations, and many private businesses require masks for customers. If those risk factors climbed, putting a community at "high" risk, the CDC recommends that a community urges its residents to return to masks and step up other precautions. The rationale behind mask With the removal of the mask mandate, Hong Kong will return to normal all around, and in this year and the coming year will go all out for the economy and development at full speed, Mr. Lee said. In 2022, the country lifted the mandatory face mask and relaxed rules of wearing it in public places. Cases have been declining for weeks. Almost 100,000 Filipino tourists arrived in Indonesia before the pandemic. Denmark became the first European country to lift the mask mandate. They still use shields and gloves. Updated: 11:07 PM EST February 25, 2022. The same thing has happened in some countries in Latin America: Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, for example. Learn how to navigate and strengthen trust in your business with The Trust Factor, a weekly newsletter examining what leaders need to succeed. FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. This move seeks to relax public health measures for economic and social activities. In a press conference Tuesday, Chief Executive John Lee said residents and tourists will not be required to wear masks indoors, outdoors or on public transportation for the first time in nearly three years. It's too premature," says Mike Toole, a founding member of Medicins sans Frontiers in Australia and an associate research fellow at Burnet Institute whose work revolves around infectious diseases and international health. Vietnam made face masks compulsory for people to wear in public on March 16. The past three years of global isolation have weighed heavily on the citys economy and reputation. While the updated guidance drops the recommendation of universal masking in schools, the CDC said it is still reviewing a federal requirement that individuals wear masks on public transportation, including on airplanes. Iceland Iceland was one of the first countries in 2022 to remove all their internal covid-related restrictions, as well as their entry requirements, returning to a pre-pandemic normal. Kristin Murphy, Deseret News. As the country continued to curb the cases in 2022, Malaysia lifted the indoor mask mandate in most public areas. Evidence shows that the coronavirus is under control in Hong Kong, without major signs of rebound, Chief Executive John Lee said at a news briefing. We find that population mask wearing notably reduced SARS-CoV-2 transmission (mean mask-wearing levels corresponding to a 19% decrease in R). The guidance also is intended to give local officials a roadmap to re-imposing restrictions if another variant pops up, which health experts warn is a possibility. Hong Kong has lifted its mask mandate, marking an end to one of the world's longest-running Covid restrictions. Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times. Although Cathay Pacific is free to enforce its own mandate, the airline has chosen to follow the lead of the Hong Kong government and lift masking rules from March 1. WATCH | Why Hong Kong residents are rushing to get Covid-19 vaccination? People wear face masks in the MTR station, a day before government gets rid of the mask rule in Hong Kong, Feb. 28, 2023. Vietnam is cited as one of the success stories in its fight against COVID-19 and has fared better economically than many other countries. The mandate, which went into effect in mid-July 2020, imposed a more than $600 fine to those who didn't follow mask rules. Many analysts view the relaxation of mask mandates as the next logical step. The controls, which changed frequently and with little warning, came at a heavy cost to residents and contributed to an exodus from the city. Hoping to revive tourism, the city recently announced plans to give away half a million plane tickets to foreign visitors, and the authorities have continued to roll back the remaining restrictions. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, Director for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, speaks during a Senate hearing on the COVID-19 response, March 18, 2021, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Despite relaxing border rules late last year, Hong Kongs government had been reluctant to lift the mask mandate amidst calls from various medical professionals to keep the mandate in force for the foreseeable future. Under the new metrics, more than half of U.S. counties, which make up about three-fourths of where Americans live, are now considered to be at "low" or "medium" risk because of a reduced number of new COVID-19 hospitalizations and adequate hospital space. 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