Health experts have called for tighter quarantine arrangements for aircrew to seal off any remaining avenues of coronavirus transmission in Hong Kong after two cargo pilots who were exempted from isolation subsequently tested positive for Covid-19.
Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team. The four preliminary-positive cases visited a total of 30 places around the city which were subsequently hit with compulsory testing orders.
Under the government’s rules, local crews operating passenger and cargo flights are subject to different arrangements. Passenger crews have to stay in quarantine hotels for seven days before re-entering the community, while those on cargo flights are exempt if they are returning from medium- and low-risk countries.Cargo crews are subject to self-monitoring – including temperature checks – and must take six Covid-19 tests spaced out over 19 days, but are otherwise free to move around the city.
Government pandemic adviser Professor David Hui Shu-cheong said the recent revelation that two crew members from the same flight were infected had “raised the alarm”.Hui said one possible solution was quarantining aircrew in hotels for one week upon their return from overseas. As to whether the cases would further delay the full reopening of the border with mainland China – the driving factor behind Hong Kong’s strict zero-Covid strategy – Hui said that would depend on whether the cases led to a community outbreak, though he said he believed Beijing would be sensitive to the risks posed by quarantine-exempted groups.