Coronavirus: pilot’s positive test sparks calls for review of Hong Kong exemptions for aircraft and ship crews

Two Hong Kong health experts have called for tighter Covid-19 testing arrangements for airline and cruise ship crews, after a pilot who returned from overseas was confirmed as having the coronavirus. The 54-year-old cargo pilot, who had been to Kazakhstan and Turkey, was among 11 imported cases recorded on Saturday. He was exempted under the current law from coronavirus testing and quarantine but went to a private doctor after his return and tested positive for the virus. The city has been hit by a surge of imported coronavirus cases recently. The latest imported cases – which also involved people arriving from Pakistan, Indonesia, Egypt and the Philippines – would bring the tally of infections to 1,258. Hong Kong has now gone three weeks without local transmission of Covid-19, with zero infections recorded on Saturday. Under the Prevention and Control of Disease Ordinance, aircraft crew members who need to commute to and from foreign places to perform their duties, as well as workers on goods vessels and passenger ships are exempt from compulsory quarantine arrangements. Saliva tests are not compulsory either. Dr David Hui Shu-cheong, a government adviser on the coronavirus pandemic, said some of these exemptions should be reviewed. “We should at least collect deep throat saliva samples when crews arrive in Hong Kong,” he said.<br/>