HONG KONG : The city’s top official announced that Hong Kong would scrap flight bans from countries including the U.S. and shorten quarantines for returning residents to seven days, a highly anticipated move that responds to concerns of business groups.

       On Monday, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said fully vaccinated Hong Kong residents would need to conduct Covid-19 tests every day while in hotel quarantine and be allowed to leave if their tests were negative after seven days. Previously, most overseas arrivals faced 14 days of mandatory quarantine, which was shortened from three weeks last month.

       Mrs. Lam also said a flight ban put into place in early January at the beginning of the current outbreak, which has since banned people arriving from nine countries including the U.S. and the U.K., would be removed from April 1.

       The changes follow pressure from business groups, which complained the tough border controls made it hard to recruit and keep international staff, as well as travel around the region.

       Hong Kong needs to maintain access with mainland China while also ensuring its connection with the outside world, Mrs. Lam said Monday, noting the city’s status as a business and aviation hub. On Thursday, she acknowledged the toll that Covid-19 containment policies have had on businesses and the population, saying she was aware many were losing patience.

       While she said the peak of an unprecedented Omicron-driven outbreak had passed, the city has still been recording thousands of cases a day. Hong Kong currently has one of the world’s highest death rates from Covid-19, driven largely by tens of thousands of unvaccinated residents over 70.

       On Sunday, the government brought forward the timeline for vaccine requirements to enter most public venues, with most residents needing to have received three doses of vaccine by the end of May to obtain a vaccine pass.

       Schools will begin face-to-face classes again on April 19 in phases, with primary and international schools returning the day after the Easter break, Mrs. Lam said Monday. Most social distancing rules will remain in place until April 20, after which there would be three phases of reopening. On April 21, most venues would be allowed to open, except for places like bars and public swimming pools.

       Plans for a mandatory citywide testing exercise have been put on hold, Mrs. Lam also said on Monday. She didn’t give a timeline for when the government would revisit the idea.

       The new rules would require residents returning to Hong Kong to take mostly rapid antigen tests—along with a PCR test on day 5—and test negative before they can be released from hotel quarantine after seven days.

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       Mrs. Lam didn’t mention any new arrangements for nonresident travelers, or whether the government would alter rules that impose automatic two-week suspensions on flight routes operated by airlines that bring in a certain number of Covid-19 cases.

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