Residents of Hong Kong wearing protective masks against Covid-19, December 24, 2020. – Kin Cheung / AP / SIPA
Travelers arriving in Hong Kong will have to comply with somewhat longer sanitary measures. The Chinese special administrative region government on Friday extended the quarantine that visitors from overseas must observe in dedicated hotels by seven days. It is now three weeks, because of the threat posed by new, more contagious strains of the coronavirus.
To justify this decision, the authorities explained that experts had suggested that the incubation period may in fact exceed 14 days for some. Hong Kong has also decided to prohibit the entry of its territory to people who have visited South Africa in the three weeks preceding. A new variant of the coronavirus has indeed been detected there.
Suspension of flights from Great Britain
Along the same lines, the government announced on Tuesday the suspension of flights from Great Britain due to the discovery of another new strain of coronavirus. Health officials have warned that two students returning from Britain may have contracted the new strain.