China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) will ban the entry of all non-Hong Kong residents arriving from overseas by flights starting from Wednesday to prevent imported COVID-19 cases, HKSAR Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced on Monday.
For the 14 days since 12:00 a.m. local time on Wednesday, Hong Kong will deny the entry of all non-Hong Kong residents arriving from overseas by flights, as well as those who have been to overseas in the past 14 days and arriving in Hong Kong through Chinese mainland, Macao SAR and Taiwan, Lam said at a press conference on Monday afternoon.
During the period, transfer services at the Hong Kong International Airport will be suspended.
Hong Kong will maintain the compulsory quarantine arrangements on inbound travelers from Chinese mainland. Meanwhile, all the travelers entering Hong Kong through Macao and Taiwan, regardless of whether they are Hong Kong residents, will undergo the same 14-day compulsory quarantine, Lam said.
The measures, which came amid a remarkable increase of imported infections of COVID-19 recently in Hong Kong, aim to prevent more imported cases and to block the chain of transmission of the virus, said the chief executive.（Updated）
