Editorial | Fairness, not politics, needed in curbs for travellers from mainland China
- Flight restrictions on passengers from Hong Kong and mainland China should be reasonable and proportionate to perceived risks of Covid-19
The lobbying against overseas travel curbs on Hong Kong has somewhat paid off, with Japan further lifting some of the flight restrictions imposed in the wake of the imminent reopening of the city’s border with mainland China.
Welcome as it is, the news may not necessarily change the minds of many other countries to have tightened rules on arrivals as coronavirus infections escalate on the mainland.
Officials must redouble their efforts to have those restrictions removed as soon as possible.
Starting from tomorrow, passenger flights from Hong Kong to Japan will also be permitted to use other airports in Japan, in addition to Narita and Haneda in Tokyo, Kansai in Osaka, Chubu in Nagoya, New Chitose in Hokkaido, Fukuoka and Naha in Okinawa.
Airlines may also add more services to certain locations in Japan, but the government said authorities could still restrict any increase in the frequency of departing passenger flights.
Japan had earlier eased some curbs after they caused confusion and disrupted the plans of an estimated 60,000 Hong Kong travellers.
Many more countries, including the United States, South Korea and Malaysia, have since taken steps to screen arrivals from both the city and the mainland.
The European Union has also recommended pre-departure tests for travellers from China, the wearing of masks and the monitoring of waste water on aircraft arriving from China as well as genomic surveillance at airports.