The Hong Kong authorities on Monday banned flights from India, the Philippines and Pakistan after the discovery of at least 49 passengers on a flight from New Delhi to Hong Kong positive for the coronavirus.
The travelers had connected India to Hong Kong on April 4 on a flight from the Indian company Vistara.
This figure is all the more important since, since January, Hong Kong has recorded less than fifty daily cases of contamination.
A three-week quarantine for passengers
The Hong Kong authorities decided Monday to ban urgently for 14 days flights from India, Pakistan and the Philippines, three countries classified as "extremely high risk" and after having recorded for the first time a local case of variant of Covid-19.
India is currently facing an outbreak of the epidemic and a new record of contaminations was recorded on Monday as the 20 million inhabitants of New Delhi are again confined for a week.
The aircraft of the company Vistara which transported these passengers had a capacity of 188 people.
However, the Hong Kong authorities did not specify how many travelers were on board during this flight.
The positive cases were all recorded during the three-week hotel quarantine that all travelers undergo.
The strictest measures in the world
All passengers must provide coronavirus test results less than 72 hours before boarding.
Hong Kong, one of the most densely populated cities in the world, has managed to contain the pandemic so far, at the cost of some of the most stringent quarantine measures in the world, drastic restrictions and systematic wearing of masks by the entire population.
The territory of nearly 7.5 million inhabitants has recorded just over 11,0700 cases and 209 deaths linked to the coronavirus.
Nearly 10% of the population had received a first dose of vaccine on Tuesday.
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