(Picture: Experts point out that wearing masks can prevent COVID-19 and flu, and support to continue to maintain mask orders.) Hong Kong is steadily moving towards normalcy. After balancing factors such as public health and social development, the government announced today that it would further adjust its epidemic prevention measures, including shortening the period of isolation and quarantine for those who have been diagnosed and those who have close contacts, whether or not they have been vaccinated, and if they meet the requirements for negative rapid test, the period of isolation and quarantine can be shortened to five days; The requirement for immigrants to receive a quick test after arriving in Hong Kong has also been reduced from seven days to five days; However, social distance measures and mandatory mask orders remained unchanged. The government stressed that it would continue to pay close attention to the development of the epidemic and, if circumstances permit, would look for space to return to normal for further relaxation. The government announced yesterday that the isolation, quarantine and testing arrangements applicable to all persons (regardless of their vaccination status) will be adjusted from 0:00 this morning (9th). In principle, the isolation period of the confirmed persons is still 14 days. However, if the rapid test results of the confirmed persons are negative on the the fourth day day and the fifth day after the test is positive, they can complete the isolation early after reporting the test results on the fifth day. During the quarantine period, those in close contact with the company who have reduced their entry quick test from 7 consecutive days to 5 consecutive days must carry out the quick test every day. If their daily quick test is negative, they can complete the quarantine on the fifth day. For people arriving from overseas and Taiwan, the daily fast test requirement was reduced from seven days to five days, but the nucleic acid test requirement on the offset day and the second day remained unchanged. The number of confirmed cases continued to rise, but the government still decided to reduce the number of days of isolation. Li Xiayin, Deputy Director of the Medical and Health Bureau, explained that according to the data recorded from early September to late November this year, there were a total of 350000 close contacts, of which about 100000 were finally diagnosed. No matter whether there was vaccination or not, more than 90% of the close contacts could be found on the fifth day, believing that it was relatively safe to change the quarantine order to five days. Ou Jiarong, chief doctor of the Infectious Diseases Department of the Health Protection Center, added that 26.6% of the close contacts who received quarantine inspection were finally infected, that is, more than 70% of the quarantine personnel were not infected, and the quarantine period could be shortened to five days; Only 55% of the confirmed patients can get negative rapid test results on the fourth and fifth days, so the beneficiaries do not believe much. Li Liye, General Administrative Manager (Comprehensive Clinical Services) of the Hospital Authority, added that shortening the isolation order to five days could effectively help public hospitals relieve pressure. The authorities estimate that one fifth of the more than 2000 confirmed infectious inpatients will be quarantined for 14 days due to lack of injection. The new arrangement can speed up the circulation of beds. If the epidemic is alleviated, the current social distance measures of "safe travel" can be relaxed, which will remain unchanged until 28 this month, including the mandatory mask order. Li Xiayin stressed that the government will continue to pay close attention to the development of the epidemic and, if circumstances permit, will look for space to return to normal again; The possibility of relaxing the "safe travel" and vaccine pass will have room for regulation with the development of the epidemic, but the epidemic is still on the rise, so it is not within the current consideration. Zhou Yiping, a human resources consultant and the general manager of Yizhi Consulting Company, said that at present, most companies follow the government's epidemic prevention measures, and only some types of work or posts adopt strict epidemic prevention requirements because they need to contact other people frequently