8:30am-9:15am: Covid-19 and business
8:30am-9:00am: Inaki Amate (in photo), vice-chairman, European Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong

8:30am-9:00am: Prof Malik Peiris, Chair of Virology at HKU School of Public Health
8:45am-9:00am: Michael Tien, lawmaker; Convenor of Roundtable
9:00am-9:15am: Dr Sridhar Siddharth, Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology, HKU
9:00am-9:15am: Sonesh Mool, Group Operations Director, Ovolo hotels
9:15am-9:30am: Gurkhas retirees
9:15am-9:30am: Tim Gurung, author of Gurkha book AYO GORKHALI 



On Monday's Backchat, Covid-19 and business; and Gurkhas retirees.
The government has come under fire over the exemption of Hollywood actress Nicole Kidman and her film crew from quarantine. Commerce minister Edward Yau defended the decision and said, “these exemptions are not allowing anybody to be free, but rather there are a number of conditions attached to it… These [conditions] are meant to contain the risks in a manageable manner. We often strike a balance between facilitation and epidemic control.”

Meanwhile, international business groups continue to criticise local authorities’ moves to enhance quarantine. Under the new rules, only fully vaccinated travellers are allowed to fly in from high-risk countries and they must spend 21 days in quarantine. Is Nicole Kidman’s exemption justifiable? As HK-Singapore’s travel bubble is officially called off, when can we open up again?
After 9.15am, we’re discussing Gurkhas. A hunger strike to protest against Gurkhas' unequal pensions has ended after the UK government agreed to further talks. What's going on?