Coronavirus: is new Omicron variant a threat to Hong Kong's border reopening hopes? Avoiding local cases the key, pandemic adviser says | South China Morning Post

The coronavirus' new Omicron variant is unlikely to present a major stumbling block to the looming reopening of Hong Kong's border with mainland China, a government pandemic adviser has said while backing a decision to have arrivals from southern Africa spend just seven of their 21 quarantine days at a city-run facility. But at least one infectious disease expert disagreed on Monday, arguing a tightening of quarantine measures was needed to avoid heightening Beijing concerns over the city's anti-pandemic strategy. First detected in Botswana, the Omicron variant has since cropped up in South Africa, Israel, Germany, Italy and Britain, with…