Coronavirus: public health experts warn Hong Kong not doing enough to keep out external Covid-19 threats despite flight ban on India, Pakistan and the Philippines

City is on alert after 29-year-old man working in Dubai as engineer was confirmed on Saturday to be first locally detected Covid-19 case with N501Y mutation

Hong Kong officials on Monday confirm 12 more coronavirus cases, one of which was traceable local infection and the rest imported from India, Philippines and US

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Hong Kong has imposed a flight ban on certain countries after detecting its first community Covid-19 cases involving a mutated strain. Photo: Nora Tam

Published: 2:17pm, 19 Apr 2021Updated: 1:13am, 20 Apr 2021

Hong Kong is not taking adequate measures to guard against the threat of imported Covid-19 cases and infectious new variants of the coronavirus coming in, health experts have warned, starting with the need to extend quarantine to 28 days for arrivals from extremely high-risk countries if the situation remains unsafe after periodic flight bans expire.

The city is on the alert after a 29-year-old man working in Dubai as an engineer was confirmed on Saturday to be the first locally detected Covid-19 case with the N501Y mutation, which has been linked to more infectious variants. His friend, a 31-year-old woman, was confirmed to be infected the next day.

Hong Kong health officials on Monday confirmed 12 more coronavirus cases, one of which was a traceable local infection and the rest imported, from India, the Philippines and the United States. Fewer than 10 people tested preliminary-positive for the virus on Monday.

While no new local infection with the mutant strain was discovered on Monday, four of the 11 imported cases had the N501Y mutation – two were from India and two were foreign domestic helpers from the Philippines.

The city so far has recorded more than 220 cases of coronavirus variants, nearly all of them brought in from overseas.

City authorities on Sunday imposed a two-week ban starting from Tuesday on flights from India, Pakistan and the Philippines. All three countries have been deemed “extremely high-risk nations” by Hong Kong after at least five arrivals from each country were found to be carrying the mutant strain over a seven-day period.

India is in the grip of a second wave, reporting a record 273,810 new cases on Monday while deaths rose by 1,619 to 178,769. A new Covid-19 variant with a so-called double mutation is thought to be fuelling the spread.