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Hong Kong tightens quarantine rules for 16 countries including SL
The government of Hong Kong on Monday announced tighter quarantine arrangements for people arriving in Hong Kong from 16 countries, including the United States, citing the threat from the more infectious Delta coronavirus variant, news agencies reported.
Agencies quoted officials as having said 15 countries will be upgraded from medium risk to high risk, meaning travellers have to be vaccinated and undergo quarantine for 21 days when they arrive here.
They are Bangladesh, Cambodia, France, Greece, Iran, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the US.
Australia, meanwhile, will be moved from low risk to medium risk.
People coming from medium-risk countries can spend as few as seven days in quarantine if they are fully vaccinated and their antibody test is positive. Other arrivals will be quarantined for 14 or 21 days.
The new arrangements will take effect from August 20.
A government spokesman said there’s a need to upgrade the risk grouping of the 16 countries in order to “uphold the local barrier against the importation of Covid-19.”
“The global Covid-19 epidemic situation is under serious threat from the Delta variant, with acute surges in the number of confirmed cases within a short period of time in many countries,” he said.
Respiratory disease specialist, Leung Chi-chiu, said the authorities should also order those who recently returned from the newly added 15 high-risk regions to undergo 14 days of quarantine.
“Some of them may still be in their quarantine period, and some of them may have gone into our community, and that will pose a risk,” he said.
The government’s quarantine policies have come under scrutiny after a foreign domestic helper who recently returned from the US and spent seven days in isolation tested positive for the virus
South Korea’s Asiana Airlines has stopped selling some emergency exit row seats following an accident in which a passenger opened an emergency exit door midair causing panic on board.
The incident took place on an A321-200 plane, which was carrying nearly 200 passengers, as it approached the runway at Daegu International Airport, about 240km (150 miles) southeast of Seoul. The plane landed safely but several passengers were hospitalised. There were no serious injuries or damage.
The airline told the AFP news agency on Sunday the emergency exit seats – 31A and 26A – on its 14 A321-200 jets would no longer be offered for sale. “As a safety precaution, this measure will apply even if the flights are full,” it added. It is however unclear how the move might stop passengers seated elsewhere on the plane from attempting to open the emergency door.
The man, in his 30s, was arrested by authorities in Daegu for allegedly breaking aviation security laws. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. He told Daegu police that he had been under a lot of stress after losing his job recently and that he opened the door because he wanted to get off quickly after feeling suffocated, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported on Saturday.
Video footage apparently taken by a person on board and posted on social media showed passengers’ hair being whipped about by air rushing into the cabin when the emergency door opened.
It is still unclear how Lee was able to open the emergency exit door mid-flight.
Jin Seong-hyun, a former Korean Air cabin safety official, said as far as he knew, this case was unprecedented, although passengers have opened emergency exits without authorisation while planes were on the ground.
A South Korean transport ministry official said it was possible to open emergency exits at or near ground level because the pressures inside and outside the cabin were similar.
(Aljazeera)
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