Hong Kong has announced the ban of all passenger flights from Britain starting Thursday, as it labels UK “extremely high risk.”
The ban comes as Hong Kong loosens entry requirements for people traveling from most other parts of the world.
Other countries in Hong Kong’s highest risk category include Brazil, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines and South Africa.
The statement released the Hong Kong government on Monday said, “From 0.00am on July 1 (Hong Kong time), all passenger flights from the U.K. will be prohibited from landing.”
“The UK will also at the same time be specified as an extremely high-risk Group A1 specified place to restrict persons who have stayed in that place for more than two hours from boarding passenger flights for Hong Kong, so as to stop persons from the relevant place from travelling to Hong Kong via transit.”
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The decision was made “in view of the recent rebound of the epidemic situation in the U.K. and the widespread delta variant virus strain there, coupled with a number of cases with L452R mutant virus strains detected by tests from people arriving from the U.K.,” it said.
Hong Kong specified the UK as an extremely high-risk place in December last year, and restricted people who had stayed in the UK from travelling to Hong Kong.
The Government gradually relaxed the restrictions in April and May on people who had stayed in the UK, including allowing Hong Kong residents to return to Hong Kong via designated flights in April, lowering the specification of the UK to a very high-risk Group A2 specified place from May 7 onwards, and further lowering the UK’s specification to a high-risk Group B specified place from June 4 onwards.
The latest ban comes amid rising political tension between China and the U.K. over Beijing’s crackdown on prodemocracy and media freedom in the former British colony.
China has been repeatedly accused by the U.K. government of violating the China Sino-British Joint Declaration that paved the way for Hong Kong’s handover in 1997.
Ifunanya Ikueze is an Engineer, Safety Professional, Writer, Investor, Entrepreneur and Educator.