Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Hong Kong Covid: The Cathay pilots stuck in 'perpetual quarantine'
Hong Kong may be one of the strictest international aviation hubs when it comes to coronavirus regulations. And they work. It has much fewer cases of Covid-19 than any other busy city, and the residents can enjoy near-ordinary lives and activities in the city. However, arriving passengers and flight crew have to pay the price. A pilot of Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong’s flagship carrier whose routes are all international including mainland China, spent almost 150 days in isolation this year. Upon arrival, all arrival passengers and crew members are required to take Covid tests and wait hours to get the test results before proceeding to immigration. Even if your test result is negative, crew members aren’t allowed to go out of their homes or hotels freely for 18 days to avoid unnecessary social contact. And a daily Covid test! If some other crew member tests positive, other members are regarded as close contact and will be quarantined in a hospital or a special facility. Any luxury or comfort in the room to be confined? This is part of China’s zero-tolerance policy, which seems to have been working much more effectively to contain the novel virus than European or North American rivals.
Enjoy reading the article and seeing the photos of Hong Kong’s quarantine facility and think if you want to visit Hong Kong in the near future.
No comments:
Post a Comment