Hong Kong on Thursday decided to suspend its much-criticized system that banned airline routes that brought infected passengers to the city.  

Starting Thursday, the so-called circuit breaker mechanism will end until further notice, the government said in a statement. The city will pivot to a more vigorous testing regimen, which it says is more effective at catching imported cases than flight bans.  

“The new measure is a decision made after the government’s careful review of relevant statistics and considering currently it is the peak season for students studying overseas returning to Hong Kong,” the government said in the statement.  

The measure will help to reduce the impact on travel and stop transmission into the community from imported cases in a more precise and effective manner to achieve “the most outbreak prevention goals with the least social cost,” it said.  

An updated testing regimen will require arrivals to take an additional PCR test on the third day when they are quarantined in designated quarantine hotels. Including the pre-departure test, travelers will need to take six PCR tests across 14 days.  

While the government is keeping the seven-day hotel quarantine requirement in place for now, anticipation is growing that the length of confinement may also be trimmed. It is understood that the government is considering cutting the time inbound travelers must stay isolated in hotel rooms to five days, followed by two days at home.

A passenger, Miss L, said she could not benefit from the lift as she has already bought new flight tickets with her friend after their original flight was being canceled under the circuit-breaker mechanism. 

The woman said she planned to fly to Hong Kong from Thailand but she was told on Tuesday that her Emirates flight got canceled due to the circuit-breaker rule. “Since it's difficult to book quarantine hotels in Hong Kong so we must return to Hong Kong on July 8. Hence, we decided to book another tickets from Cathay Pacific which cost more,” she said. 

“Even Emirates to resume the flight now, we would still take the Cathay flight as we have bought new tickets immediately when Emirates canceled the flight on Tuesday,” she added.

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