At least 49 passengers on a flight between New Delhi and Hong Kong have tested positive for COVID-19

At least 49 passengers on a flight between New Delhi and Hong Kong have tested positive for the coronavirusHong Kong officials said, banning flights from India, the Philippines and Pakistan on Monday to avoid an increase in infections.

All of the passengers who tested positive flew to Hong Kong on April 4 on an 188-seat flight from Indian operator Vistara, although authorities did not say how many passengers traveled on the plane.

The positive results among the passengers emerged during the three-week mandatory quarantine period in Hong Kong.

All travelers to Hong Kong from 25 high-risk destinations, including the UK, South Africa, India, Pakistan, and the US, must also provide a negative diagnostic test before boarding, carried out less than 72 hours before departure. Departure.

The number of infections on the flight is very important because Hong Kong currently has less than 50 daily cases of the coronavirus.

Hong Kong authorities have imposed a two-week ban on all flights from India, Pakistan and the Philippines, calling them countries at “extremely high risk” for COVID-19.

Hong Kong, one of the most densely populated cities in the world, was one of the first places to be affected by the coronavirus, but difficult entry conditions, strict social distancing measures and the widespread use of face masks have helped limit coronavirus infections. more than 11,000, with 209 dead. So far, around 9.8% of Hong Kong’s 7.5 million people have been vaccinated.

For its part, India faces sharp rise in infections with hospitals at critical point, the government has therefore had to reimpose restrictions, including a weeklong lockdown in its capital, New Delhi, which is home to 20 million people.

New death record in India

The country recorded a new coronavirus death record on Tuesday, 1,761 in the past 24 hours, while the number of infections edged down, even though it remained above 250,000.

According to the latest data from the Indian Ministry of Health, the total number of deaths from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic has increased to 180,530, while the 259,170 new infections brought the total to 15.3 million. Yesterday, more than 273,000 cases of coronavirus had been recorded, a record in the Asian country.

The second most affected country in the world in absolute terms, after the United States (32 million cases), has seen a dramatic increase in infections in recent weeks as part of a second wave of the pandemic, and since last Thursday has recorded over 200,000 infections per day.

The situation has led the New Delhi government to impose lockdown on the population until next Monday due to fears of a health sector collapse due to the critical lack of intensive care beds and oxygen in hospitals.

(With information from AFP and EFE)

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