HONG KONG, Nov. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government announced Tuesday that the testing and isolation arrangements for consular and diplomatic officers who are currently exempted from quarantine upon arriving in Hong Kong will be tightened with effect from Wednesday.

A government spokesman said in a statement that the decision was made in view of the development and severity of the global epidemic situation and those from places deemed as very high risks before entering Hong Kong will in particular be affected.

Those who have visited very high risk places during the past 14 days must have a negative testing result within 48 hours prior to boarding the flight to Hong Kong and take a post-arrival test at the specimen collection center of the Department of Health of the HKSAR government.

Except for Consul Generals or representatives in the HKSAR at the equivalent level, all others must be subject to self-isolation for 14 days. The use of public transport is also prohibited for them.

Those who have not visited very high risk places will face basically the same arrangements except self-isolation.

The spokesman said the tightening is needed to strengthen the prevention of imported cases and avoid exempted people's contact with the local community during the exemption period so as to achieve the strategic goal of "controlling the epidemic with precision."