Hong Kong shortens dining-in, bans flights as Omicron emerges

[HONG KONG] Hong Kong is imposing strict new virus control measures for the first time in almost a year as the highly transmissible omicron variant seeps into the community and threatens to spur a winter wave.

The city will ban dining-in after 6 pm, close some venues including bars and gyms, eliminate large-scale events and halt all flights from eight countries, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said at a briefing on Wednesday.

The new rules return to social distancing restrictions that were in place a year ago and eased after Chinese New Year in 2021 when infections were ebbing.

The eight countries from which no flights will be allowed to land for the next two weeks are Australia, Canada, France, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, the UK and the US, places with the worst Omicron spread currently, Lam said.

The tightening comes as the Asian financial hub this week preliminarily reported the first local coronavirus case that officials were unable to trace to its source. The patient, an unvaccinated man who developed symptoms before being diagnosed, is believed to be carrying the Omicron variant that has triggered exponential spread of Covid-19 across the globe.

Hong Kong is one of the only places in the world that hasn't experienced a Delta outbreak. It has maintained a strict Covid Zero policy, designed to eliminate all traces of the virus within its borders.

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The arrival of Omicron, which triggered the first local transmission in nearly seven months, is testing the limits of its power. The growing number of Omicron cases and a looming expansion of the vaccine mandate has enlivened the city's stagnant immunisation rollout. While 66 per cent of the city's population has received a first injection, just 22 per cent of the over-80 population have started the immunisation process. Besides bars and gyms, other venues to be closed for at least two weeks from Jan 7 include: amusement centres bathhouses, party rooms, beauty and massage parlours, nightclubs, karaoke and mahjong outlets, and swimming pools.

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