Thousands of students stranded in Britain as Hong Kong bans arrivals to shut out mutated Covid-19 strain
- Parents say family reunion plans have been ruined by the ban on all passenger flights from Britain from Tuesday
- Consultants say several thousand Hongkongers studying in Britain will remain stranded, while the ban also pours cold water on immigration plans
Many Hong Kong parents will have to spend the festive season without their children by their side, as the city’s ban on flights from Britain could leave thousands of students stranded in the country.
Local parents on Monday said their family reunion plans had been ruined by the Hong Kong government’s latest ban on all passenger flights from Britain from Tuesday, a move aimed to prevent the import of what is believed to be a more virulent strain of the coronavirus from the country.
Anson Chung Cheuk-hang, a 23-year-old postgraduate student studying film in Guildford, a southern town in Surrey, had planned to fly back to Hong Kong on Wednesday. But now, he will have to cancel the flight ticket as well as bookings for the mandatory 14-day quarantine in a local hotel.
“My family is disappointed that I won’t be able to return now, but they understand the situation,” Chung said. “But we won’t panic here as supermarkets remain open and the locality is not running out of food.”
Most of Surrey has been put under Tier Four restrictions, meaning residents are required to stay at home on Christmas and all non-essential shops, gyms and personal care services will remain shut.