Hong Kong bans passenger flights from Indonesia over COVID-19 fears

Hong Kong has already banned arrivals from India, Nepal, Pakistan and the Philippines, using a flight suspension rule

June 24, 2021 07:53 am | Updated 07:53 am IST - HONG KONG

Students wearing face masks walk across a street in Hong Kong. File photo

Students wearing face masks walk across a street in Hong Kong. File photo

Hong Kong will ban passenger flights from Indonesia from Friday, deeming the country's arrivals "extremely high risk" for the coronavirus.

The Hong Kong government said late on Wednesday, June 23, 2021, it was suspending flights after the number of imported COVID-19 cases from Indonesia crossed thresholds set by the global financial hub.

Hong Kong has already banned arrivals from India, Nepal, Pakistan and the Philippines, using a flight suspension rule triggered when there are five or more passengers who test positive for one of the variant COVID-19 cases on arrival, or 10 or more passengers found to have any strain of the disease while in quarantine.

The Chinese special administrative region has recorded over 11,800 cases and 210 deaths due to the coronavirus. Most of the city's recent cases over the past month have been imported.

Indonesia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that HongKong's ban was "temporary" and that migrant workers affected by the new regulation should contact their employers and agents.

Hong Kong employs thousands of migrant workers from countries including Indonesia and the Philippines.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.