Hong Kong bars Air India flights till October 3 after passengers test positive for Covid

Hong Kong bars Air India flights till October 3 after passengers test positive for Covid
Passengers from India can arrive in Hong Kong as long as they need a COVID-19 negative certificate from a test done within 72 hours before the journey, consistent with rules issued by the Hong Kong government in July.

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A spokesperson of the national carrier confirmed the recent order, saying, “Hong Kong has prohibited Air India for 2 weeks — September 20 to October 3.”
Hong Kong has banned Air India flights from Sunday to October 3 after a couple of passengers on its flight on Friday tested positive for COVID-19 post arrival, a senior government official said on Sunday.

Air India passenger flights were barred from landing in Hong Kong between August 18 and August 31 after 14 passengers on its Delhi-Hong Kong flight of August 14 tested positive for COVID-19 post arrival.

Passengers from India can arrive in Hong Kong as long as they need a COVID-19 negative certificate from a test done within 72 hours before the journey, consistent with rules issued by the Hong Kong government in July.

Moreover, all international passengers are required to undergo a post-flight COVID-19 test at the Hong Kong airport.

A spokesperson of the national carrier confirmed the recent order, saying, “Hong Kong has prohibited Air India for 2 weeks — September 20 to October 3.”

“There is merely one flight scheduled within the fortnight — the Delhi-Hong Kong flight of September 21. That flight is cancelled and therefore the passengers are informed,” the spokesperson added.

Air India Express had on Friday said its flights were suspended for twenty-four hours by the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA) for bringing two passengers with COVID-positive certificates on August 28 and September 4.

Air India Express, which may be a subsidiary of Air India, resumed its Dubai flights on Saturday.

According to rules within the United Arab Emirates (UAE), every passenger travelling from India is required to bring an ingenious COVID-negative certificate of an RT-PCR test done within 96 hours before the journey.

“A few passengers on a September 18 Delhi-Hong Kong flight tested positive for COVID-19 post arrival,” the senior government official said.

“As a result, Air India’s flights are banned from September 20 to October 3 by the Hong Kong government,” the official added.

Besides India, a pre-flight COVID-19 negative certificate is mandatory for all passengers from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Africa and therefore the US, consistent with the Hong Kong government’s rules.

An airline operating a flight to Hong Kong from any of those nine countries has got to submit a form before departure, stating that each one passengers on board have COVID-19 negative certificates.

Scheduled international passenger flights still remain suspended in India since March 23 thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. However, special international flights are operating with the approval of aviation regulator DGCA.

Air India has been operating special international flights since May 6 under the Vande Bharat Mission to assist stranded people reach their destinations.

Since July, India has established separate bilateral bubble arrangements with countries like the US, Germany, France, the UAE, the united kingdom and therefore the Maldives for flight operations.

Under a bilateral bubble pact, the airlines of both countries can operate international flights with certain restrictions.

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