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HONG KONG, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Hong Kong has asked Japan to retreat a COVID-19 regularisation that allows rider flights from the fiscal hub to onshore lone astatine 4 designated airports, saying the determination would impact astir 60,000 passengers.
India, Italy, Taiwan and the United States necessitate mandatory COVID-19 tests connected travellers from China aft Beijing's determination past period to assistance stringent zero-COVID policies that fuelled a surge successful infections crossed mainland China.
Hong Kong, location to much than 7 cardinal people, is signaling astir 20,000 coronavirus cases a time but lifted its COVID curbs connected Thursday for the archetypal clip in 3 years.
Japan, a apical question destination for those successful Hong Kong, said it would bounds flights from Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China to Tokyo's 2 airports, arsenic good arsenic Osaka and Nagoya, from Friday.
The determination comes during a highest question play up of the Lunar New Year vacation which begins connected Jan. 21.
"It is understood that astir 250 outbound flights of Hong Kong airlines volition beryllium affected betwixt December 30, 2022 and the extremity of January 2023, affecting astir 60,000 passengers," the authorities said successful a connection precocious connected Wednesday.
City person John Lee said the authorities had indicated to Japan that it was disappointed.
"We deliberation that Hong Kong radical should beryllium allowed to usage not conscionable these 4 airports," Lee said.
On Thursday, Hong Kong's authorities said Japan would fto rider flights from Hong Kong besides onshore successful Hokkaido, Fukuoka and Okinawa provided that nary passengers aboard had been successful mainland China for the anterior 7 days, but said the information was "unreasonable".
Flights of Hong Kong airlines tin inactive transportation passengers backmost to Hong Kong from airports successful Japan, the authorities said, to guarantee their creaseless instrumentality and "minimise the interaction to Hong Kong travellers caused by the incident."
In a statement, Hong Kong's flagship bearer Cathay Pacific Airways (0293.HK) said it would proceed to run flights to Japan, though it would trim these to 65 a week, down 20% from its planned docket for Jan 2023.
HK Express, which is owned by Cathay, said successful a abstracted connection it would lone beryllium capable to run 60 scheduled flights a week to destinations successful Japan owed to the curbs, prompting the cancellation of 41 flights from Hong Kong to Japan successful January.
Hong Kong Airlines and Peach Aviation said they would cancel immoderate formation routes due to the fact that of the rules.
In December, China began dismantling the world's strictest COVID authorities of lockdowns and extended testing, putting its battered system connected people for a implicit re-opening adjacent year.
The lifting of curbs pursuing wide protests has meant that COVID is spreading mostly unchecked, astir apt infecting millions of radical each day, immoderate planetary wellness experts person said.
Reporting by Farah Master and Twinnie Siu; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Stephen Coates
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
English (US)