National carrier Air India has been banned from operating flights to Hong Kong for two weeks, according to a report in the South China Morning Post (SCMP). The report states that the airline was banned for “carrying too many passengers infected with COVID-19.” The Hong Kong government took action after 11 passengers on Air India flight 314 from Delhi on August 14 tested positive for the coronavirus, with officials blaming poor preflight testing for the infection.
“The fact that 11 passengers tested positive on the same flight shows the lab tests back in India are not very reliable,” a government source said, adding, “The airline has to do deep cleaning [on its planes] and make sure it won’t happen again on future flights before they can be resumed.”
The story came a day after Air India postponed its Delhi-Hong Kong flight scheduled for August 18, but did not offer any explanation.
On August 17, the airline had declared that its Delhi-Hong Kong has been postponed.
#FlyAI : #ImportantUpdate
— Air India (@airindiain) August 17, 2020
Due to restrictions imposed by Hong Kong Authorities,
AI 310/315, Delhi - Hong Kong - Delhi of 18th August 2020 stands postponed. Next update in this regard will be intimated soon. Passengers may please contact Air India Customer Care for assistance.
The publication reported that it was the first time officials were invoking an emergency public health regulation to penalise an airline for the offence.
The government invoked the Prevention and Control of Disease (Regulation of Cross-boundary Conveyances and Travellers) Regulation to suspend flights for two weeks, from August 18 to 31.
Under provisions of this law, a health officer can forbid an aircraft from landing in Hong Kong when passengers on board have contracted, or are likely to have been exposed to the virus, and are therefore deemed to be at “significant risk”.
The 11 passengers with coronavirus managed to get on the flight despite strict preflight virus testing, the report says.
Meanwhile, thousands of Hong Kong residents remain stranded in India, with charter flights slow to resume.
Since July 25, Hong Kong has mandated that fliers from nine high-risk countries, including India and the USA, have to show health certificates before boarding, to certify that they are free of the virus.
All passengers are required to get tested within 72 hours before boarding, and they also need to carry proof of having booked a hotel for at least two weeks for self-quarantine upon arrival.