Amidst concerns over the Omicron variant, Hong Kong has announced that it will ban flights from India and seven other countries on Wednesday, 5 January, AFP reported.
Australia, Canada, France, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, UK, and US are on the list of countries from which incoming flights will be banned from midnight on Friday, 7 January.
Based on the current plan, the ban is supposed to last for two weeks.
"Passenger flights from these countries will not be allowed to land in Hong Kong and individuals who have stayed in those countries are not allowed to board flights to Hong Kong, including transit flights," chief executive Carrie Lam told reporters.
The government has also shut bars and gyms, and has also cancelled evening dining in restaurants.
Hong Kong has maintained some of the world's most stringent measures to curtail COVID – closed borders and three-week long quarantines being two of the many.
Until Tuesday, 4 January, 114 Omicron cases had been detected, with most of them being traced back either to the airport or the 21-day hotel quarantine that is obligatory for all those arriving in Hong Kong.
Fearing that community transmission of Omicron has started, Lam also said that Hong Kong has "cases that have their sources identified but not the route of transmission."
(With inputs from AFP)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)