Gov’t relaxes flight ban mechanisms starting 1 June

The adjustments will ease travellers’ journey whilst guarding imported cases.

The government will ease flight ban rules for incoming travellers starting June in a bid to reduce travelling hassle whilst still monitoring imported infections.

In a statement, the government said inbound travellers arriving on or after 24 May and are discharged early from compulsory quarantine will take an additional compulsory PCR-based nucleic acid test on the ninth day of arrival.

Currently, for “people who have stayed in overseas places or Taiwan, aside from a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based nucleic acid test conducted on the fifth day of arrival in Hong Kong during compulsory quarantine in a designated quarantine hotel, another PCR-based nucleic acid test is done on the 12th day of arrival regardless of whether they have been discharged early from compulsory quarantine.”

As nucleic testing services in many overseas areas are scaled-down, the government said inbound travellers may find it hard to confirm whether a local laboratory or healthcare institution conducting PCR-based nucleic acid tests is ISO 15189-accredited or recognised by local authorities.

The government also noted that beginning 1 June, people boarding flights from overseas places or Taiwan are only mandated within 48 hours before the scheduled departure time and with samples collected by a laboratory or healthcare institution. 

“In other words, they will no longer need to present the documentary proof of the ISO 15189 accreditation or the recognition by the local authority regarding the laboratory or the healthcare institution,” the government added.

Also, children aged below three who have stayed in overseas areas or Taiwan are not required to present the proof of the 48-hour pre-departure nucleic acid test when boarding. But they will still be subject to nucleic acid tests and compulsory quarantine at a designated quarantine hotel as per the existing arrangement.

For passengers transferring or transiting through Hong Kong International Airport, the government will scrap the requirement for them to present the 48-hour pre-departure nucleic acid test from June 1.

Starting next month, passengers from overseas places or Taiwan who were infected 14 to 90 days prior to boarding for Hong Kong and have recovered can be allowed to board a flight if they hold certain documentary proof.

As for penalties, if it is the first instance within a 10-day period for a flight to trigger the mechanism due to passengers’ violations of the boarding conditions, the Airport Authority will issue a warning to the airline, who will issue a fine of $20,000.

If that route's flights trigger the mechanism again within 10 days, the airline’s passenger flights on that route from the same origin will be barred from landing in Hong Kong for five days.