HONG KONG: Travellers to Hong Kong from Britain will have to initially quarantine in a government facility from Tuesday (Dec 21), joining 12 African nations and the United States on the city’s strictest entry tier.
Those policies have been tightened further since the emergence of the Omicron coronavirus variant, which has spread rapidly around the world in the last few weeks.
Most people arriving in Hong Kong must undergo 21 days of hotel quarantine and frequent testing before being allowed out.
But people from countries deemed to have high Omicron infection rates must spend the first four days of quarantine in a government-run facility before seeing out the rest of their isolation in a hotel.
Britain was added to that list from midnight on Tuesday.
The other countries on the highest tier are Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, the United States, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Hong Kong has also further tightened aviation rules.
Any airline that brings in four or more passengers with the coronavirus over a seven day period on a route will be hit with a 14-day ban.
The rules create fresh headaches for airlines ahead of the once-peak Christmas travel period.
Some airlines such as British Airways and Swiss Air have begun avoiding Hong Kong altogether for fear of their crew getting trapped in quarantine.
