Hong Kong Airport to ban transit of passengers from 150 countries and regions

Air travelers from countries with the high risk of the coronavirus spread will not be able to make transit via the Hong Kong international airport until February 15, a spokesperson of the Hong Kong Airport Authority said, Report informs, citing TASS.

“In order to control the spread of the highly infectious Omicron variant of COVID-19 and further strengthen the protection of airport staff and other users, from 16 January to 15 February, passenger transfer/ transit services via Hong Kong International Airport for any persons who in the last 21 days have stayed in Group A specified places as specified by the Government will be suspended,” the spokesperson said.

The Group A currently covers about 150 states, including Russia, the US, Japan, the UK, Canada, Australia, and others. All the countries where at least one Omicron case was found are included into this list automatically.

“Transfer/ transit services for passengers from other groups of specified places, the Mainland [China] and Taiwan are not affected. The above measure will be reviewed according to the latest pandemic situation,” the spokesperson added.

Hong Kong currently faces the threat of the fifth coronavirus infection wave associated with the Omicron strain spread. Sports, cultural and entertainment facilities were closed for a fortnight since January 7 as instructed by authorities.