Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam said Monday that the government will lift its anti-COVID-19 flight ban on nine countries and shorten the 14 day quarantine period to 7 beginning April 1, after earlier stating that the current measures would be in place until April 20. The nine countries include Australia, Canada, France, India, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, and the United States, local newspaper Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP) reported. Lam told a press briefing that the flight ban is no longer necessary as the pandemic situation in these countries was “no worse than Hong Kong.” The country reported 14,149 new coronavirus cases on Sunday. Residents of the nine countries will be permitted to board flights to Hong Kong only if they are fully vaccinated and have a negative nucleic acid test. They will need to undergo a daily rapid antigen test at the hotel they are staying at, …