Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Hong Kong officially banned flights from eight countries, Wednesday (5/1/2022). This step was taken as part of the new restrictions on the spread of the Omicron variant of the corona virus from Europe to the United States.
Launch AFP, flights from Australia, Canada, France, India, Pakistan, Philippines, UK and USA to Hong Kong will be banned for the next two weeks.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said the city was also closing bars and gyms. They also canceled dinner hours at the restaurant after Omicron was detected in the Asian financial hub.
The restrictions are the latest economic blow to Hong Kong. Like China, Hong Kong has maintained some of the toughest controls in the world, including weeks of quarantine, lockdowns and mass testing.
The city had recorded 114 cases of Omicron as of Tuesday evening. This outbreak emerged in a small community that was found to be from the staff of the Cathay Pacific airline. This immediately triggers the latest restrictions.
Lam said health officials were concerned the virus was quietly spreading within communities.
Hong Kong also ordered a cruise ship carrying 3,700 people back to port for testing after nine people were found to be close contacts of the Omicron patient.
Britain, the United States, France and Australia alone have announced record numbers of cases in recent days. Meanwhile China has imposed lockdowns on two cities and launched mass testing for millions of people as it doubled down on its “zero Covid” policy ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Hong Kong now has a total of 12,799 infections and 213 deaths, according to Worldometers data.
(tfa/tfa)
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