Omicron variant: Britain set to be added to Hong Kong’s list of highest-risk countries

Hong Kong residents returning from Britain will be required to spend their first seven days at a government quarantine facility as city authorities are planning to tighten Covid-19 control rules for the country over concerns about the Omicron variant, the Post has learned.

A source said Britain – already listed as a Group A high-risk country for Covid-19 – would be moved to the enhanced-measures category where travellers must spend one week in Penny’s Bay Quarantine Centre, and the remaining 14 days in a designated hotel. An announcement is expected soon.

Thirteen countries are already in the category. Britain will join the United States as the only non-African countries in the category, under which arrivals face the city’s toughest quarantine measures. The government last week announced that the US would be added to the group with effect from Monday.

Britain on Monday confirmed its first death linked to the variant, a day after Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned of a looming “tidal wave” of Omicron cases. Mainland China also detected its first Omicron case, in the port city of Tianjin, state media said.

The expected tightening of travel restrictions came as Hong Kong health authorities confirmed two more Omicron cases, involving a man, 62, and woman, 50, who arrived together from the United Kingdom on Cathay Pacific flight 252 on Friday. The pair were among five imported cases confirmed on Sunday.

Both had received two doses of the BioNTech vaccine and were asymptomatic. They also tested positive for virus antibodies.

The city also confirmed two new imported Covid-19 infections on Monday, taking the official tally to 12,490 cases, with 213 related deaths. One patient was a man, 75, who arrived from Pakistan via the United Arab Emirates. The other case, a man, 50, had been in Tanzania, South Africa and Kenya, and arrived via Qatar.