Hong Kong airport will not allow transit fliers from 153 countries

The move is being seen as one that will isolate Hong Kong globally and comes as Beijing battles to put an end to Delta and Omicron outbreaks

PRAVASISAMWAD.COM

AFP has reported that Hong Kong had announced a ban on passengers from more than 150 nations transiting its airport on Friday as China ramped up strict anti-virus travel measures ahead of the Winter Olympics.

The move is being seen as one that will isolate Hong Kong globally and comes as Beijing battles to put an end to Delta and Omicron outbreaks. Like mainland China, Hong Kong has maintained some of the world’s harshest measures throughout the pandemic — including weeks-long quarantines, targeted lockdowns and mass testing. The Chinese business hub ranks territories into categories based on how widespread their Covid-19 infections are, with 153 countries currently classified as Group A- from which arrivals must spend 21 days in quarantine.

Hong Kong’s airport said that anyone who has spent time in the last three weeks in any of those countries would be banned from transiting from Sunday January 16. Eight Group A countries, Australia, Canada, France, India, the Philippines, Pakistan, Britain and the United States, are already banned entirely from arriving in Hong Kong.

The city is battling the Omicron variant that began with returning Cathay Pacific flight crew who breached home quarantine rules. It has reimposed strict social distancing rules, including closing gyms and halting restaurant dining after 6 pm, and has said Cathay Pacific might face legal action.

Cathay Pacific is already flying only a fraction of its pre-pandemic routes and many of its long-haul flights transit through its home city. Other airlines have dramatically scaled back routes to Hong Kong or begun avoiding it all together because of the quarantine rules

************************************************************************

Readers

These are extraordinary times. All of us have to rely on high-impact, trustworthy journalism. And this is especially true of the Indian Diaspora. Members of the Indian community overseas cannot be fed with inaccurate news.

Pravasi Samwad is a venture that has no shareholders. It is the result of an impassioned initiative of a handful of Indian journalists spread around the world.  We have taken the small step forward with the pledge to provide news with accuracy, free from political and commercial influence. Our aim is to keep you, our readers, informed about developments at ‘home’ and across the world that affect you.

Please help us to keep our journalism independent and free.

In these difficult times, to run a news website requires finances. While every contribution, big or small, will makes a difference, we request our readers to put us in touch with advertisers worldwide. It will be a great help.

For more information: pravasisamwad00@gmail.com