Hong Kong to ban all passenger flights from Britain

Hong Kong will ban all passenger flights from Britain starting on Thursday (July 1), labelling the country “extremely high risk”, just as it loosens entry requirements for people travelling from most other parts of the world. “From 0.00am on July 1 (Hong Kong time), all passenger flights from the UK will be prohibited from landing,” the government said Monday. The decision was made “in view of the recent rebound of the epidemic situation in the UK and the widespread Delta variant virus strain there, coupled with a number of cases with L452R mutant virus strains detected by tests from people arriving from the UK”, it said. Only a handful of other countries are in Hong Kong’s highest risk category: Brazil, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines and South Africa. Britain was on Hong Kong’s "extremely high risk" category from December to May, but then lowered to "very high risk" as its outbreak eased. While cases are on the rise again in Britain, the move comes amid political tensions between China and Britain over Beijing’s crackdown on dissent and media freedom in the former British colony. The British government has repeatedly said China has breached the Sino-British Joint Declaration that paved the way for Hong Kong’s handover in 1997.<br/>