Britain will be specified as an extremely high-risk country for the Delta variant of Covid-19
28 June 2021 - 16:03
byMeg Shen and Anne Marie Roantree
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Passengers at Hong Kong International Airport. File photo: SOPA IMAGES/LIGHT ROCKET/GETTY IMAGES/IVAN ABREU
Hong Kong — Hong Kong will ban all passenger flights from the UK from Thursday to curb the spread of the Delta variant of Covid-19, the government said on Monday.
Britain will be specified as extremely high-risk, and people who have stayed in the country for more than two hours will be unable to board passenger flights bound for Hong Kong.
It is the second time Hong Kong has barred arrivals from Britain after a ban that was in force from December 2020 until May.
The government said the ban is due to “the recent rebound of the epidemic situation in the UK and the widespread Delta variant virus strain there, coupled with a number of cases with L452R mutant virus strains detected by tests from people arriving from the UK”.
Parents in Hong Kong with children in Britain reacted with shock. They complained that they had paid large sums to comply with Covid-19 testing rules but their children would now be stranded.
Hong Kong already has bans in place on arrivals from Indonesia, India, Nepal, Pakistan and the Philippines.
The Chinese special administrative region has recorded more than 11,900 cases and 211 deaths because of Covid-19. Most of the city’s recent cases over the past month have been imported.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Hong Kong to close the gate on flights from UK
Britain will be specified as an extremely high-risk country for the Delta variant of Covid-19
Hong Kong — Hong Kong will ban all passenger flights from the UK from Thursday to curb the spread of the Delta variant of Covid-19, the government said on Monday.
Britain will be specified as extremely high-risk, and people who have stayed in the country for more than two hours will be unable to board passenger flights bound for Hong Kong.
It is the second time Hong Kong has barred arrivals from Britain after a ban that was in force from December 2020 until May.
The government said the ban is due to “the recent rebound of the epidemic situation in the UK and the widespread Delta variant virus strain there, coupled with a number of cases with L452R mutant virus strains detected by tests from people arriving from the UK”.
Parents in Hong Kong with children in Britain reacted with shock. They complained that they had paid large sums to comply with Covid-19 testing rules but their children would now be stranded.
Hong Kong already has bans in place on arrivals from Indonesia, India, Nepal, Pakistan and the Philippines.
The Chinese special administrative region has recorded more than 11,900 cases and 211 deaths because of Covid-19. Most of the city’s recent cases over the past month have been imported.
Reuters
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