Tougher rules for transit passengers

All transit passengers from overseas and Taiwan must present negative Covid results within 72 hours before flying to Hong Kong, according to authorities.

The Food and Health Bureau yesterday also tightened restrictions on arrivals from Finland, Ghana, South Korea, Norway and Saudi Arabia from Sunday, due to the discovery of Omicron cases.

They will be added to the high-risk Group A, in which non-residents will be banned from entry while Hong Kong residents must undergo a 21-day quarantine.

Following the city's fourth imported Omicron case - a South African transit passenger stranded at Hong Kong International Airport for four days due to visa issues - the Airport Authority said airlines must ensure transiting passengers should fly out within 24 hours.

The unvaccinated 38-year-old man arrived on November 24 on Qatar Airways flight QR818 from Nigeria via Qatar.

He remained on the air side of the restricted area due to a visa issue between November 24 and Saturday. But he tested positive in a predeparture test and was found to be carrying the Omicron variant.

The Airport Authority said there are currently no stranded passengers and, if there are, they would be required to stay in a designated area guarded by security.

"The same arrangements also applied to the latest case and the staff involved were all wearing personal protective equipment."

So far, 16 airport workers have been identified as close contacts and required to quarantine.

A family from Pakistan, meanwhile, was believed to have passed the coronavirus to three others on a flight to Hong Kong.

The family of eight - plus three others - on November 21 took Emirates flight EK384 from Dubai to Hong Kong via Thailand.

All of them carried the L452R mutant strain likely to be the Delta variant.

Separately, authorities last night locked down On Tin Estate in Lam Tin after a 28-year-old female resident, who flew to the United States on November 20, tested preliminary positive when she flew back to Hong Kong on Wednesday.

The woman, fully inoculated with the BioNTech vaccine, tested positive to the L452R mutant strain.

Since she stayed in Hong Kong during the incubation period before her departure, authorities cordoned off On Kin House to test all residents, with the aim to unseal the area by 7am today.

The city yesterday reported six imported cases in five men and a woman, aged 22 to 60. All of them are fully vaccinated and carry the L452R mutant strain.

jane.cheung@singtaonewscorp.com