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'Expats' is based on Janice Y. K. Lee’s 2016 novel 'The Expatriates' about a group of privileged expatriates in Hong Kong

Nicole Kidman has skipped Hong Kong quarantine to film TV series Expats.

Kidman landed in Hong Kong on a private plane from Sydney on Thursday last week at a time when the Australian capital is suffering from an outbreak of the Delta COVID-19 variant.

Victorian premier Dan Andrews has predicted Sydney will be in lockdown “long term” whilst Burnet Institute Director Professor Brendan Crabb said the city’s best outcome will be “lockdown until Christmas.”

Nonetheless, Kidman has been exempted from Hong Kong’s otherwise mandatory 14 day quarantine for those visiting from Australia.

In a press statement, Hong Kong’s Commerce and Economic Development Bureau said “the case in discussion has been granted permission to travel to Hong Kong with a quarantine exemption for the purpose of performing designated professional work, taking into account that it is conducive to maintaining the necessary operation and development of Hong Kong’s economy.”

Kidman was spotted shopping in Hong Kong’s San Wan district two days after her arrival.

Expats is based on Janice Y. K. Lee’s 2016 novel The Expatriates about a group of privileged expatriates in Hong Kong.

Produced for Amazon Prime Video, the series has drawn flack for filming at a time with political unrest, with many calling it “tone-deaf”.

“As HKers are imprisoned and exiled, silenced and traumatised by state violence, we get not 1 but ✌️ @PrimeVideo series about expats. This is starting to feel like cruel and unusual punishment. How much more does the city need to suffer before they care about actual HKers’ lives?” A Twitter commenter wrote.

In other news, there have been over 9,000 anti-Asian attacks in America since the start of the pandemic.