Coronavirus: government scraps temperature checks after US consulate urges citizens not to fly through Hong Kong airport
- Passengers departing from Hong Kong or those in transit to overseas destinations will no longer be screened
- Government has also started talks with mainland Chinese pharmaceutical company on its nasal spray Covid-19 vaccine, health chief says
Hong Kong authorities have backed down and scrapped temperature checks for transit passengers after the US consulate in the city urged American citizens to avoid flying through the local airport to avoid the risk of being waylaid by Covid-19 travel rules.
Without commenting on the consulate’s statement, Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau stressed on Friday any further reopening to the world must be “based on data”.
He also revealed that the government had started talks with a mainland Chinese pharmaceutical company on its nasal spray coronavirus vaccine.
In a “health alert” put on its website on Thursday evening, the United States Consulate General for Hong Kong and Macau urged “US citizens to reconsider transiting through Hong Kong International Airport due to the risk of being denied boarding, removed from the airport and sent to a Hong Kong government-managed facility if local authorities determine you are exhibiting symptoms of Covid while in transit”.
The US statement added there had been “several incidents” of transit passengers being denied entry to their onward flights after they registered an elevated temperature, and told American citizens to avoid booking planes that transited through the airport if “other options are available”.
On Friday, the city’s government backed down by announcing that the measure would be scrapped from Saturday.
