The Hong Kong government announced on Friday that it had allowed five members of the filming team of a new series for Amazon – including Australian actress Nicole Kidman – to skip the mandatory quarantine that all people arriving from abroad.
The controversy broke out last week, when Kidman was seen in the COS fashion store at Queen’s Road Central, just two days after arriving in Hong Kong from Sydney, Australia on a private jet. Both the press and the users of the networks wondered what the actress was doing in that store, when the quarantine period lasts for a minimum of 7 days and a maximum of 21 days.
It’s a statement aforementioned last Thursday by Chinese media, the Office of Trade and Economic Development said that the actress received a special exemption because she participated in a filming project – the ‘Expats’ series.
According to Edward Yau, head of that department, the exemptions were granted on the condition that the members of the film crew become periodic covid-19 tests and inform the authorities of your working hours. The aim of these measures is to “contain risks in a manageable way” and to “strike a balance between facilitating and controlling the epidemic.”
Despite the fact that Hong Kong grants tens of thousands of similar exemptions each month, mainly to foreign diplomats, senior government officials or business executives, film professionals are not among the eligible categories. That is why some Hong Kong officials have expressed their disagreement with the authorities’ decision.
“Will all foreign movie stars be exempted from quarantine in the future if they come to Hong Kong to film? If not, how do you explain that Nicole Kidman is superior to the others?”, Asked lawmaker Michael Tien on Friday during a session of the Legislative Council of the city.
For her part, Priscilla Leung, a member of the council, said that even her official status would not allow her to skip the mandatory quarantine.
