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Hong Kong third wave: as more sailors confirmed with Covid-19, experts call for suspension of unrestricted crew changes
- ‘If a group has come in [from other places], but quarantine is not imposed on them … this will only lead to sustained entry of the virus’: government adviser
- According to the Marine Department, about 10,000 sea crew members have been granted quarantine exemption to date
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Hong Kong should review its policy of allowing unrestricted sea crew changes at the city’s port amid a sustained third wave of Covid-19 infections, health experts said on Friday, as four more imported cases involving seafarers were recorded.
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Concerns over the possible threat posed by vessels continued as more than 100 maritime workers were revealed on Thursday to have been quarantined aboard six cargo ships in Hong Kong waters, after a half dozen seamen tested positive for the coronavirus.
A source familiar with the situation said the sailors in quarantine were calm and the environment on the vessels was not bad.
Among the 123 new Covid-19 infections on Friday, eight were imported cases, including three seafarers who arrived from the Philippines and one from India.
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Professor David Hui Shu-cheong, a government adviser on the pandemic, said Hong Kong should suspend opening its port for sea crew change for three weeks in view of the worsening situation.
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