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Coronavirus: As Hong Kong prepares to review ban on arrivals from Britain, senior medical adviser urges government to keep measures in place for now
A leading Hong Kong government medical adviser urges the administration to maintain the ban on flights from Britain at least until the end of the month, when it reviews the policy next week, despite the calls for the measure to be abandoned. residents desperate to return home and students hoping to resume their studies in Britain. British Airways (BA) will restart services from Hong Kong to London on Sunday, as the country intends to reopen schools and universities despite the Worsening wave of Covid-19 infections and the emergence of a new, more virulent strain of coronavirus Get the latest information and analysis from our Global Impact newsletter on the big stories from China. “Our goal is to keep critical air links open where possible – bringing customers home currently overseas, transporting vital cargo and ensuring those who are authorized to travel can continue to do so safely. safety, “BA said. Still, the timeline for a full flig restoration Relations between the Asian financial hub and the UK capital remain unclear. A spokesperson for the Food and Health Office told the Post that the flight ban would be reviewed next week. Flights between the two cities were interrupted indefinitely on December 22 in response to the discovery of the most infectious areas in Britain. All airlines with routes between the two locations halted their flights after the Hong Kong government announced that crews in Britain for the past 14 days s were to be quarantined for three weeks. key voice in the government’s response to the pandemic, said containment has worked so far, referring to the new variant’s lack of community transmission. A local team of infectious disease experts determined that the strain was 75% more transmissible than the one circulating in Hong Kong. Lifting the ban depended on how quickly Britain could eradicate the new strain, either through vaccination or through social distancing measures, Hui said. . The government is expected to extend the flight ban until the end of January and reassess the situation then, he said, but around 400 Hong Kong residents have called on the government to set a date for the cancellation of the flight ban or opening of a travel window. , and to provide sufficient hotel space for the required three weeks of quarantine, given the shortage of affordable housing Everyone allows their citizens to return to their homes Representative of a group calling for the lifting of the ban on theft In an open letter to authorities, they also asked whether the ban violated the city’s mini-constitution, the basic law, which guaranteed residents’ freedom of movement. “We don’t think it’s proportional or reasonable [to keep the ban for so long] because the bans by other countries have been short-term, ”said a representative of the group. “Everyone allows their citizens to come home.” We don’t have a problem with the ban in principle, but we have a problem with the government not letting us go home. We understand that there are risks and concerns, so we need to protect the public from Hong Kong to Hong Kong, but it needs to extend to people outside the city. China detects first case of novel variant coronavirus found in Britain British students who have returned home for the holidays face limited options to resume their studies. The UK government continues to reopen schools and universities, although it recently recorded around 50,000 new infections three days in a row – up from around 14,000 daily cases earlier this month. Hong Kong has identified three people as carriers of the most infectious strain – which was also found in South Africa – although all are recently returned travelers who have been quarantined. The city’s infection count stood at 8,923 cases on Saturday, including 150 related deaths. Dr Leung Chi-chiu, former chairman of the Medical Association’s Communicable Disease Advisory Committee, also called for the ban on staying in place for the time being, given the city was still in the grip of the fourth wave of Covid-19, with few hospital resources to fight a new alien strain. Hong Kong will launch mass coronavirus vaccinations in February, said Minister Leung suggested any repatriation of Hong Kong people from Britain should be carried out using chartered flights to ensure the tightness of infection control, in the same way that the government returned stranded residents to Wuhan in Hubei province, the first pandemic epicenter and the coronavirus-hit cruise ship Princess Diamond docked in Japan. authorities in July to quarantine arrivals from ‘high risk’ countries such as India and Pakistan in government-run camps and said “When Hong Kong’s fourth wave is over there will be more capacity in terms of manpower and resources to deal with possible cases imported from Britain, “he said. 5,914 units, with 3,168 places currently available, but Dr. Gilman Siu Kit-hang, associate professor of health, technology and info at Polytechnic University’s rmatics department, estimated that the surveillance in place at the airport could catch most carriers. The most virulent strain had not circulated widely in Hong Kong, he said, noting that none of the 21 infected people in the group at United Christian Hospital in Kwun Tong have it. wore. “This means that the UK strain has not spread locally so far, and as long as we have an anti-virus detection system in place at the airport, we can allow some residents to return safely,” a Siu said. of one of the world’s most valuable air routes has also prevented freight from flowing. British retailer Marks & Spencer has struggled to keep its shelves stocked during the holidays as stocks are stranded in Britain or diverted, creating long delays. Although BA is carrying passengers from Hong Kong to Great Britain, departures from Heathrow to London remain unavailable and the route remains freight only. The carrier will fly twice as many pilots and cabin crew and will not stay in Hong Kong to avoid quarantine rules. Meanwhile, as Hong Kongers stranded in Britain have pointed out, the ban on all Arrivals from this country raise constitutional questions, with Article 31 of the Basic Law stipulating that residents enjoy the freedom to enter and leave the region.Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet -ngor cited the right in March when it ruled out banning Hong Kong residents from returning to the city. But Mark Daly, a human rights lawyer, said the government would need to balance community and personal rights to freedom of movement. “It’s a matter of balance and wouldn’t be an absolute right,” Daly said. “You cannot just rely on Article 31 of the Basic Law and say, ‘I can come and go as I please even though I am a super-spreader.’ But if the government had not explained the need for the ban and neglected to explore alternatives, a legal challenge might have a greater chance of success, he said. measure to prevent the most contagious strain from leaving Hong Kong.More from the South China Morning Post: * Coronavirus: Hong Kong bans all passenger flights from Britain to prevent the mutated strain from reaching the city This article Coronavirus: As Hong Kong prepares to review ban on arrivals from Britain, senior medical adviser urges government to keep measure in place for first time in South China Morning Post news from te South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2021.
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