Omicron Scare: Hong Kong Bans Flights From Eight Countries, Including India

Fearing for a fifth wave, the local Covid 19 restrictions have tightened around the country. A two-week ban has prohibited incoming flights and passengers from entering Hong Kong. With the increasing spread of covid variant Omicron in the whole world, the severity of measures regarding covid 19 has also increased.

Hong Kong government has also taken some strict restrictions to break the herding community and thus has banned flights from across the world. Thus, the Omicron surge has ensued the ban on eight countries, namely India, Pakistan, Australia, Canada, France, Philippines, Britain, and the United States have been banned from January 8 to January 21.

Hong Kong officials state the two-week ban

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam stated him the course of action the government would ban indoor dining after 6.00 pm from Friday, and close swimming pools, sports centres, bars and clubs, museums, and other venues for at least two weeks. Future cruise journeys would be canceled. “We’re yet to see a fifth wave yet, but we’re on the verge,” Lam further added on the matter.

Strict measures to break the infection chain in Hong Kong

Gabriel Leung, University of Hong Kong dean of medicine and a government adviser, told public broadcaster RTHK there were probably “five-to-10 invisible transmission chains in the city. There’s no time to waste, and we need circuit-breaker measures.” Therefore, the authorities have scrambled to track down and test hundreds of people who had been in contact with a handful of Omicron patients to break the chain.

A patient who danced with some 20 friends in a central park on New Year’s Eve sparked the contact tracing campaign. Moreover, people who have been to dozens of places across Hong Kong around the same time as the close contacts of recent patients have been issued compulsory testing notices by the government.

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