Hong Kong's new government on Thursday suspended a longstanding flight route
ban that penalised airlines for bringing in coronavirus cases and severely
impeded travel into the city, saying it was "not very effective".
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The financial hub has become increasingly isolated under harsh pandemic
restrictions as it mirrors a lighter version of China's strict zero-Covid
policy, with the once busy Hong Kong airport now a relative aviation
graveyard.
On Thursday, new city leader John Lee's government said the "circuit
breaker" rule was being suspended to "achieve the most in fighting
the pandemic with the minimum cost on the society".
"At the current stage, continued implementation of the 'circuit
breaker' mechanism is not very effective in preventing imported cases,"
the government said.
"Large number of passengers will have their itineraries disrupted due
to the mechanism, and as the supply of seats on planes and quarantine hotel
rooms fall short, the social costs generated will be remarkably
high."
Travelling to Hong Kong will still pose a challenge as the city holds on to
its mandatory seven-day hotel quarantine for all arrivals.
Rooms at the designated hotels are booked up for months in advance.
Previous city leader Carrie Lam introduced the rule last April which banned
airlines bringing in more than a handful of infected passengers from flying the
designated route for a fixed period.
The penalty was reduced from two weeks to a shorter five-day suspension during
its one-year imposition.
It was heavily criticised by industry representatives who said Hong Kong was
in danger of losing its position as a global aviation hub.
So far in 2022 there had been more than 100 flight route bans, even though
the coronavirus had become endemic within Hong Kong after a mass outbreak at
the start of the year.
Reopening Hong Kong's border both with mainland China and the rest of the
world was one of former top-cop John Lee's main campaign objectives before
being selected to run the city by a small committee of Beijing loyalists in
May.
But it is unclear how his ad ministration can achieve both objectives at the
same time.
Lee told the city's legislature on Wednesday that Hong Kong was not ready to
abandon its zero-Covid policy.
Hong Kong is currently facing an uptick of Covid-19 cases with numbers at
their highest level since April.
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