Hong Kong's decision to descend deeper into international coronavirus isolation as rivals reopen is causing consternation among managers at multinationals who see no end to a zero-Covid strategy imposed by a leadership beholden to Beijing.

The southern Chinese business hub has kept the coronavirus at bay thanks to some of the world's strictest quarantine rules with most arrivals undergoing 14 to 21 days of hotel confinement, according to AFP.

Competitors such as London, New York, Tokyo and Singapore have begun to live with the disease with face-to-face meetings, conferences and executive travel slowly returning.

But Hong Kong, which dubs itself “Asia's World City”, has gone in the opposite direction.