Coronavirus: ex-flight attendants alleged to have broken Hong Kong’s self-isolation rules while infected
- Former Cathay Pacific staff deny charges of breach of Covid-19 isolation rules, insist they were not forbidden to leave home for social activities
- Ex-flight attendant insists that travel to a friend’s house with a Christmas present was ‘necessary activity’ under restrictions
Two former Cathay Pacific flight attendants alleged to have breached Covid-19 quarantine rules in Hong Kong while infected with the coronavirus insisted on Tuesday that visits to friends and going out to dinner were allowed during self-isolation periods.
Wong Yoon-loong, 45, told Eastern Court that meeting a friend and giving him a Christmas gift were “necessary activities” permitted under the law while he was in self-isolation at home in December last year, the start of Hong Kong’s coronavirus fifth wave.
Co-accused Nilsson Lau Kok-wang, 44, said walking a friend to a bus stop and having lunch with his own family were essential and claimed there were no objective criteria for deciding what was necessary.
The two, who were later found to be infected with the highly infectious Omicron variant at the time, on Monday denied a total of three counts of failure to stick to conditions specified by health officials.
The ex-employees of the city’s flagship carrier were subject to medical surveillance for three weeks after they returned from the United States for the Christmas holidays.