Flight suspension mechanism halted

July 7, 2022

The route-specific flight suspension mechanism will be suspended from today until further notice, the Government announced.

 

Meanwhile, from tomorrow onwards, inbound travellers undergoing quarantine in designated quarantine hotels will be required to undergo an additional nucleic acid test on the third day of arrival.

 

The Government explained that upon preliminary review of data and scientific analysis, it considered a further enhanced and more frequent nucleic acid testing arrangement for inbound people as more effective in halting the importation of COVID-19 cases.

 

Since mid-June, the percentage of confirmed cases among travellers from overseas places or Taiwan hovered around 1% to 3%, representing a daily number of imported cases at just around a few dozen to below 200, and accounting for less than 10% of Hong Kong’s overall number of cases.

 

Moreover, data analysis shows that the vast majority of imported cases can be detected by nucleic acid tests under the “test-and-hold” arrangement at the airport and in designated quarantine hotels, and the risk posed by imported cases to the local epidemic situation under the stringent inbound control measures is relatively lower.

 

The Government therefore concluded that to continue the flight suspension mechanism at this stage is comparatively not very cost-effective in avoiding the importation of cases.

 

In light of the overall principle of adopting precise anti-epidemic measures in a socially cost-effective manner, and the fact that it is currently the peak period for students studying abroad to return home, the Government said it decided to suspend the route-specific flight suspension mechanism starting today.

 

Routes currently suspended under the mechanism will also be allowed to resume service, it added.

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