Nicole Kidman’s quarantine exemption in Hong Kong sparks uproar – The HuffPost

Danny Moloshok via Reuters

POLÉMIC – Hong Kong’s decision to award Hollywood star Nicole kidman a quarantine exemption so that she can run for Amazon a series on the lives of wealthy expatriates aroused the anger of the population.

The financial center is experiencing one of the most restrictive and long quarantines in the world for all travelers from abroad.

So far, these measures have limited the number of Covid-19 cases to around 12,000 for 7.5 million inhabitants.

But for the past 18 months, many residents have been cut off from their families living abroad.

People arriving from countries considered to be at high risk in terms of Covid, notably the United States, France and Great Britain, must carry out a quarantine of 21 days in a hotel.

But the 54-year-old actress was allowed to circumvent those measures.

The Office of Trade and Economic Development has confirmed that the Australian star and other members of the film crew have been granted a “specific professional job” exemption.

Since landing on August 12 in Hong Kong on a private jet from Australia, the tabloids have followed each of his appearances.

In particular, she went shopping two days after arriving and then toured the Sai Wan district on Hong Kong Island.

Nicole Kidman is the executive producer of “Expats”, a series based on Janice YK Lee’s book (2016), which chronicles the dream lives of three American women in the city.

Hong Kong tightens restrictions

Since his arrival, comments have proliferated on social media about the exemption and the wealthy foreign elite living in Hong Kong, at a time when any dissent is clamped down by Beijing.

On Facebook, the much-watched “people in quarantine in Hong Kong” group is replete with comments about how foreigners residing in the city have not seen their families in nearly two years because of the measures.

Elizabeth Quat, a pro-Beijing MP, said she was “worried about this exemption granted by the government” and admitted having “received a number of complaints from residents of Hong Kong”.

Exemptions are granted to certain senior executives on an exceptional basis.

The chairman of banking giant HSBC, Mark Tucker, has just spent three weeks in quarantine upon his arrival from Britain.

This quarantine waiver for Nicole Kidman came days after Hong Kong tightened its rules for arrivals from several countries, which upended many travel plans after the summer break and caused a shortage of hotel rooms.

See also on The HuffPost: “The Undoing” starring Nicole Kidman has its trailer