Coronavirus Hong Kong: tough new quarantine regime for Cathay Pacific aircrew puts flights at risk
- All pilots and cabin crew who have stopped over in Frankfurt this month to undergo 21 days’ quarantine in a government facility, airline says
- The stepped-up surveillance could jeopardise operations of the airline’s passenger and cargo flights
Authorities on Sunday also tightened monitoring of workers at the city’s main port and suggested more domestic helpers could be on their way soon, easing a long-standing shortage, given the improving pandemic situation in their home countries.
Cathay told staff in an internal memo that the Centre for Health Protection was especially concerned about aircrew from Frankfurt after three of the airline’s cargo pilots arriving from there were found to be infected with the Delta variant in less than a week.
To minimise the risk of the more infectious strain of the virus spreading into the community, all pilots and cabin crew who had stopped over in the German city at any point this month would have to undergo 21 days of quarantine in a government isolation facility, the airline said.
In addition, crew members overseas who were close contacts of the three cases should isolate for three weeks at their current location and stay out of Hong Kong for a month if they did not want to quarantine upon arrival, the memo said.
Affected crew who had already re-entered the city should expect to be contacted by health officials in the coming days, it said, adding their 21-day stint in quarantine would be measured from the day after they returned to Hong Kong.
The sole confirmed case on Sunday was a 53-year-old Cathay cargo pilot carrying the L452R mutant strain linked to the Delta variant. He arrived from Frankfurt on November 7, and his earlier status as preliminary-positive triggered an overnight screening of three towers at his residence in Tai Kok Tsui, although no additional infections were found.