Starting April 01, the Hong Kong government will resume international flights with nine countries including India, city leader Carrie Lam said on Monday.
In January 2022, in a bid to contain an Omicron outbreak in the city, the Hong Kong authorities have decided to suspend all inbound flights from eight countries deemed high-risk viz. Australia, Canada, France, India, Pakistan, Philippines United Kingdom and the United States and in February added a ninth, Nepal.
Now, as the Covid-19 cases continue to decline the city has decided to lift the restrictions on international flights from the above-mentioned countries.
Lam said starting April 1, Hong Kong lift remove flight bans — known as a “circuit breaker” — for the nine countries.
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“The circuit-breaker… is inopportune now,” she said during a press conference.
“The epidemic situations in those nations are not worse than in Hong Kong, and the majority of travellers didn’t show severe symptoms. Extending the circuit breaker will add to the worries and anxiety of Hong Kong citizens who are stranded there.”
It may be noted that the Hong Kong government has been criticized for its handling of the Covid problem, as well as for sending mixed messages about mass testing and lockdown measures.
Fear of being caught in an unexpected lockdown fueled panic, prompting inhabitants to empty grocery shelves and precipitating a record-breaking evacuation of both foreign and local citizens.
Hong Kong had a net outflow of more than 134,000 persons by the middle of March.
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