Hong Kong has decided to ban all flights from India amid an ongoing surge in COVID-19 cases in the country. This decision was taken following a recent incident that occurred yesterday (April 18th), where up to 47 passengers onboard a Vistara flight from Delhi tested positive for COVID-19.
All infected passengers are currently being treated for COVID-19 in Hong Kong, however, the number of infections onboard a single flight has raised questions about how such levels of transmissibility could have occurred in the first place.
India has been witnessing a surge of COVID-19 cases in recent weeks, with the number of cases reaching an all-time high. Meanwhile, there are ongoing concerns about a new mutation of the virus within the country, with some cases of this particular variant recently being reported in the UK.
Hong Kong’s policy for international travel currently states that all passengers are required to travel with a COVID-19 negative certificate taken no more than 72 hours prior to departure. It is still unclear how these passengers became infected, whether it was during their transition through the airport in Delhi or during the actual flight itself. Regardless, this particular case will certainly be examined in-depth, due to the high rates of infection onboard the flight.
A spokesperson for Vistara reiterated that “Vistara ensures strict compliance with all guidelines issued by the Indian as well as the destination countries’ authorities for all flights, including all charter flights to and from Hong Kong. We will continue to be guided by any new requirements that may be introduced.”
Earlier this month, the Hong Kong government banned flights from Mumbai specifically because 3 passengers onboard a Vistara flight tested positive for COID-19 on arrival. All passengers were allowed to enter Hong Kong, but will have to quarantine at designated hotels for up to 14 days.
As of Sunday, April 18th, the Hong Kong government has implemented “place-specific” flight suspensions to and from India, Pakistan and the Philippines. All three countries have been placed under the “extremely high-risk Group A,” which means that any citizen travelling from these countries will be banned from boarding flights to Hong Kong.
According to the Hong Kong Government’s press release, “From 00:00 on April 20, all passenger flights from these places will be prohibited from landing in Hong Kong for 14 days.” The ban on flights from India, Pakistan and the Phillippines will officially commence as of midnight on April 20th and will remain in effect until May 3rd. The overall expectation is that this ban will then be reviewed after 14 days where a decision will be made to either lift or extend the flight suspension for these three countries.
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