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Hong Kong will ban flights from eight countries, including Australia, for two weeks from Saturday and has tightened local COVID-19 restrictions as authorities fear a new wave of coronavirus infections in the city.
Key points:
- Flights and transiting passengers from eight countries will be banned from Saturday
- Leader Carrie Lam says the city is on the verge of a fifth wave of coronavirus
- Authorities are trying to find contacts of a COVID-19 patient, some of whom had been aboard a cruise ship
The latest restrictions were announced as health authorities scoured the city for the contacts of a COVID-19 patient, some of whom had been aboard a Royal Caribbean ship that was ordered to cut short its "cruise to nowhere" and return to port.
Incoming flights from Australia, Canada, France, India, Pakistan, Philippines, Britain and the United States, including transiting passengers, will be banned from January 8 to January 21, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam told reporters.
Ms Lam said the government would ban indoor dining after 6:00pm from Friday, and close swimming pools, sports centres, bars and clubs, museums, and other venues for at least two weeks.
Future cruise journeys are being cancelled.
"We're yet to see a fifth wave yet, but we're on the verge," Ms Lam said.
The global finance hub has stuck to a zero-COVID strategy by largely isolating itself from the world and enforcing a draconian and costly quarantine regime.
On December 31, a streak of three months without community cases ended with the first local transmission of the new Omicron variant.
Since then, authorities have scrambled to track down and test hundreds of people who have been in contact with a handful of Omicron patients.
One patient, however, had no known links, raising fears of a large outbreak.
"Some confirmed cases had a lot of activities before being aware they got infected."
Cruise to nowhere caught up in COVID cluster
The latest contact tracing campaign was sparked by a patient who danced with some 20 friends in a central park on New Year's Eve.
Two of the fellow dancers, one of whom was described as a domestic helper, came up positive in preliminary tests.
The helper's employer and eight other of her close contacts then went on a cruise journey on January 2.
As part of its coronavirus restrictions, Hong Kong has restricted cruises to short trips in nearby waters, with ships asked to operate at reduced capacity and to only allow vaccinated passengers who test negative for the virus.
The Spectrum of the Seas ship, which returned a day early, had about 2,500 passengers and 1,200 staff on board.
The nine close contact passengers were isolated from the rest of the people on board and preliminary tests taken during the journey returned negative results, authorities said.
"Spectrum of the Seas is taking appropriate measures under guidelines by the Department of Health," Royal Caribbean told Reuters in a statement.
The nine close contacts were sent to a quarantine centre, while the rest of the passengers and staff will have to undergo several compulsory tests in coming days, the government said.
Additionally, 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, the government said in a separate statement.
Victoria Park, in downtown Hong Kong, the newly-opened M+ modern art museum, ferry piers, restaurants, stores, clinics were among the places listed.
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," Mr Leung said.
"We need circuit-breaker measures."
Reuters
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