At least 49 passengers on a flight between New Delhi and Hong Kong gave positive results for COVID-19

even 49 passengers on a flight between New Delhi and Hong Kong tested positive for coronavirusAuthorities in Hong Kong said Monday, banning flights from India, the Philippines and Pakistan to prevent infections from growing.

All the passengers who gave positive results flew to Hong Kong on April 4 with an 188-seat Vistara flight with an Indian operator, although authorities did not report how many passengers traveled on the plane.

Positive results among passengers emerged during the mandatory three-week quarantine period in Hong Kong.

All passengers flying to Hong Kong from 25 high-risk locations, including the United Kingdom, South Africa, India, Pakistan and the United States, must also provide a negative pre-shipment diagnostic test, performed with less 72 hours before departure. departure.

The number of infections on the fly is very significant because Hong Kong currently has less than 50 daily cases of coronavirus.

Hong Kong authorities have imposed a two-week ban on all flights from India, Pakistan and the Philippines, calling them “extremely high risk” countries for COVID-19.

Hong Kong, one of the most densely populated cities in the world, was one of the first places affected by coronavirus, but harsh entry conditions, strict social distance measures and widespread use of facial masks helped keep coronavirus infections at bay. just over 11,000, with 209 deaths. About 9.8% of Hong Kong’s 7.5 million people have been vaccinated so far.

In turn, India is facing a serious rise in infections, with hospitals at a critical juncture, so the government had to reinstate the restrictions, including a one-week blockade in its capital, New Delhi, where 20 million people live.

New death toll in India

The country recorded a new record of coronavirus deaths on Tuesday, 1,761 in the last 24 hours, while the number of infections fell slightly, although it remained over 250,000.

According to the latest data from the Indian Ministry of Health, the total number of deaths caused by COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic has increased to 180,530, while the 259,170 new infections increased the total to 15.3 million. Yesterday, more than 273,000 cases of coronavirus were recorded, a record in the Asian country.

The second most affected country in the world in absolute terms, after the United States (32 million cases), has seen a dramatic increase in infections in recent weeks in a second wave of pandemic, and since last Thursday recorded more than 200,000 infections a day.

The situation has prompted the New Delhi Government to force the closure of the population by Monday, due to fears of the collapse of the health sector due to the critical lack of intensive care beds and oxygen in hospitals.

(With information from AFP and EFE)

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