Hong Kong's international airport temporarily banned transit flights from about 150 countries deemed to be high coronavirus risks, authorities announced Friday.
The territory of about 7.5 million announced tougher restrictions in recent weeks as it looks to open quarantine-free travel with mainland China, which has pursued a zero-COVID policy.
Transit passengers from China and Taiwan will still be allowed to pass through Hong Kong, but transit entries into the mainland are still banned, according to the new rules.
The Hong Kong Airport Authority told Nikkei Asia in an email that the measures, set to run from Jan. 16 through Feb. 15, were launched "to control the spread of the highly infectious omicron variant of COVID-19 and further strengthen the protection of airport staff and other users."
The order comes after the international financial hub slapped a two-week ban on flights from eight nations, including the U.S., the U.K., Australia and Canada, from Jan. 8 amid the Omicron outbreak.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said the banned countries were Australia, Canada, France, India, Pakistan, Philippines, UK, and U.S. Flights will be banned from January 8 for two weeks.
The authorities launched a city-wide search for the contacts of a Covid patient as Lam ordered a Royal Caribbean “cruise to nowhere” ship to return to port early. Nine passengers on the vessel were identified as close contacts of an infected patient who was linked to a new omicron cluster.
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