Hong Kong has suspended flights from the UK over the fears of the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19.
“The Government announced today the invocation of the place-specific flight suspension mechanism for the United Kingdom (UK),” Hong Kong’s local government announced in a statement on Monday evening.
It added that Britain will also be including in the list of the “extremely high-risk” countries, adding that the decision was taken keeping in view the “rebound of the epidemic situation in the UK and the widespread Delta variant virus strain there.”
The UK on Monday reported 22,868 cases, the highest number of coronavirus in a single day since January.
The Delta variant, which was first reported in India, has been detected in more than 90% of new cases in the UK.
Joseph Tsang from the Hong Kong Medical Association, told public broadcaster RTHK: “We need to be vigilant about whether there’s any imported Delta variant that will affect our community. This interim measure has to be revised or reviewed at intervals to make sure the banning of UK flights won’t affect our citizens very much.”
Hong Kong has so far reported 11,921 coronavirus cases and 211 deaths.
