Hong Kong ‘loophole’ could undermine Covid testing rules for Chinese travellers

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According to industry sources, travelers flying from Hong Kong will be excluded from the requirement to take a negative Covid test – prompting fears that the policy will fail to stop the spread of infection from China.

Airlines have been told that only travelers from mainland China are expected to take a Covid test before departure, even though Hong Kong has seen a similar increase in cases since the end of Xi Jinping’s no-Covid policy.

The requirement is due to be made on Thursday, January 5, before China lifts international travel restrictions from Sunday, January 8. Up to a fifth of passengers from China will also be tested on arrival, so that UK scientists can scan their genomes for variants. . can appear.

The campaign is seen as a political move to ramp up pressure on China to end its silence on Covid, which is said to be hindering global efforts to track the emergence of any dangerous variants. It also brought the United Kingdom into line with allies such as the United States, although America made no exception for Hong Kong.

The Department for Transport said it was still “working through the details” of the policy, but MPs, travel scholars and experts warned that not including Hong Kong risked opening a loophole.

There should be no gaps

Tobias Ellwood, chairman of the House of Commons Defense Committee, said: “It does not make sense to exclude Hong Kong from these new measures, given that China is removing all domestic travel restrictions at the same time as the ban on overseas travel is being lifted.

“Covid issues aside, it is also about standing up to China (which has refused to share any data related to Covid) and is now irresponsibly opening its borders when there are said to be a million new cases a week and Covid is clearly not under control. It should not be There are loopholes.”

“There is nothing to stop infected people from going to Hong Kong and flying from there,” said Paul Charles, chief executive of travel consultancy Computer Agency. “This measure is designed to force China to publish more accurate information about Covid, but if you exclude Hong Kong, there is pressure.” minimal.

Data on infection numbers and circulating variants was just as opaque in Hong Kong as in China, said Simon Clarke, associate professor of cellular microbiology at the University of Reading.

“It is puzzling why travelers from there are not required to take a test,” he said. “I can’t help but think this UK keeps signaling that it is still open to people from Hong Kong.”

British Airways and Cathay Pacific have daily flights carrying up to 1,178 passengers, or just over 8,200 per week, from Hong Kong to London – a major business and travel route as tens of thousands of Hong Kongers have fled China. Through the UK BNO visa programme.

slippery slope

Ministers emphasized that Covid tests are proportional, temporary, and introduced largely to pressure China to be more transparent. Senior MPs warned it did not have to be a “slippery slope” to reintroduce Covid measures on a larger scale.

Aviation industry insiders said they believe the government is stockpiling more genetic analysis for post-arrival testing that could provide early warning of any new variants.

Data from the Hong Kong Center for Health Protection suggested an average of 4,529.9 cases per day, which equates to 0.061 percent of the population. That’s half the rate in China with 1.8 million infections per day, which is 0.13 percent of the population, according to analysis platform Airfinity.

Airfinity expects infections to first peak in China on January 13, with 3.7 million cases per day. In addition to the United Kingdom and the United States, France, Spain, Italy, Japan, India, South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan are offering tests to travelers from China.

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