Coronavirus: Hong Kong to mandate hotel quarantine for cargo aircrew, as top health official warns ‘spark could ignite fifth wave’
- The tightening of measures for the previously exempt personnel came after two crew members were found to have flouted home isolation rules before testing positive
- New steps aimed at clamping down on potential Omicron outbreak could also see stepped-up vaccination rules for schools
Hong Kong will require returning air cargo crew to spend three days in hotel quarantine after two of the previously exempt personnel were found to have flouted home isolation rules during their Covid-19 incubation period.
The tightening of rules came as Centre for Health Protection controller Dr Edwin Tsui Lok-kin sounded the alarm over a recent spike in Covid-19 cases involving the Omicron variant – which the two crew members were suspected to be carrying – warning the risk of a community outbreak was “very high”.
“In Hong Kong’s situation, any spark could ignite the start of the fifth wave in the city,” Tsui said at a press conference on Tuesday.
He noted that the city’s number of confirmed and suspected Omicron cases had already risen to 74, with the variant accounting for 95 per cent of imported infections in the last two days.
Confirming an earlier Post report, Tsui said the Transport and Housing Bureau would begin requiring previously exempt Hong Kong-based air cargo crew who made stopovers abroad to isolate in a hotel for three days upon returning rather than at home to reduce the chance of the virus spreading into the community.
A spokesperson for the bureau confirmed new arrangements would take effect from Wednesday. Aircrew members will only be able to leave their quarantine hotel after a Covid-19 test taken on the third day comes back negative, and they will also be required to submit to daily tests for the rest of their first week back.
