Hong Kong bans flights from India, Pakistan, and 6 other countries

Hong Kong has announced strict restrictions in view of rising COVID cases across the world. As per the reports, as soon as Hong Kong started reporting Omicron cases, it announced banning flights from eight nations, shut down gyms and bars, and even cancelled dining options in restaurants.

The latest restrictions will likely affect the economy of this international business hub that has been making all efforts to maintain a zero-COVID strategy, and has managed to keep the cases low, by cutting off its residents from the rest of the world.
As per the reports, Hong Kong has now cancelled flights from Canada, India, Australia, France, Pakistan, United Kingdom, the Philippines, and the United States for two weeks.

Like mainland China, Hong Kong has also imposed some of the world's harshest measures throughout the pandemic, which included weeks-long quarantine, virtually closed borders, mass testing, and targeted lockdowns.
Reportedly, the city recorded 114 Omicron cases recently, with a vast majority being detected at the airport or during their 21-day hotel quarantine, which has been a mandatory rule for most arriving passengers.

If reports are to go by, the city is once again bringing in new tough measures after a small community outbreak has been traced to Cathay Pacific airline staff in the recent days. Referring to this, Chief Executive Carrie Lam stated that health officials are of the view that the contagious variant is silently spreading within the community. She added that although they have identified their sources, they are yet to identify the route of transmission.

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