Hong Kong all set to lift ban on flights from India, 8 other countries: Report

Hong Kong on Monday said that it is all set to resume international flights from the US, Britain and seven other countries as it announced a loosening of some of the world’s toughest COVID-19 restrictions.

It is reportedly said that the finance struggled to maintain China’s zero-COVID policy during an Omicron-fuelled outbreak.

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After the highly transmissible variant fuelled a fresh wave of cases in January, authorities quickly put in place flight bans from eight countries deemed high-risk – including the United States, Britain, France and India – and in February added a ninth, Nepal.

But the number of cases increased rapidly, with Hong Kong recording more than a million cases and 5,600 deaths, with the bulk of the toll among its unvaccinated elderly population.

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Earlier, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said starting April 1, Hong Kong will lift flight bans – referred to as a “circuit-breaker” – for the nine countries. “The circuit-breaker … is inopportune now,” she said during a press conference.

“The epidemic situations in those countries are not worse than Hong Kong’s, and most arrivals did not have serious symptoms. To extend the circuit-breaker will add to the concerns and anxieties of Hong Kong residents stranded there.”

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Shanghai on Monday reported a record daily surge in local COVID-19 infections as authorities scrambled to test residents and rein in the Omicron variant, while closing its Disney resort until further notice.

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Until recent weeks relatively unscathed by coronavirus, Shanghai reported 24 new domestically transmitted COVID cases with confirmed symptoms for Sunday and 734 local asymptomatic infections, official data showed on Monday.

This will be the fourth consecutive day that Shanghai’s local asymptomatic infections have increased.