"The quarantine hotel system is going to be scrapped," John Lee told reporters.
Travelers will, however, have to undergo a PCR test upon arrival, and will not be allowed to go to bars and restaurants for the first three days.
The long-awaited decision will bring relief to residents and businesses who have been demanding that the Asian financial center follow the global trend by once again allowing unrestricted travel.
Hong Kong has applied a more flexible version of the Chinese “zero Covid” strategy, which notably imposes multiple confinements as soon as positive cases appear and almost compulsory PCR tests every 72 or 48 hours.
Measures such as mandatory hotel quarantine for people arriving from overseas - up to 21 days - have been enforced in this special administrative region of China throughout the pandemic period.
China is now the only major economy in the world to maintain a long quarantine period for international arrivals.
© 2022 AFP