SINGAPORE: Singapore Airlines (SIA) has suspended flights from Singapore to Hong Kong for two weeks after numerous passengers tested positive for COVID-19 upon arrival in the city.
The directive was issued by Hong Kong regulators after certain SIA customers who tested negative for COVID-19 in pre-departure tests tested positive upon arrival in Hong Kong, according to a SIA representative on Thursday (Feb 17).
“Due to confidentiality concerns, we are unable to comment further.”
Singapore Airlines’ two daily passenger trips from Singapore to Hong Kong, SQ882 and SQ894, will be suspended till March 1. The suspension went into effect on February 16.
The twice-daily passenger services from Hong Kong to Singapore, SQ883 and SQ895, are unaffected.
“SIA sincerely apologizes to all affected customers,” the spokeswoman stated.
“We are reaching out to them to offer all necessary assistance, and to minimise the inconvenience caused by this disruption.”
In April of last year, SIA was also briefly barred from flying from Singapore to Hong Kong after violating one of the city’s “trigger points” for COVID-19 testing regulations.
Hong Kong has been following China’s zero-COVID-19 plan for more than two years, but a wave of the highly transmissible Omicron virus subtype has pummeled the city’s capability for testing, quarantine, and treatment.
On Wednesday, Hong Kong’s health authorities reported a record 4,285 confirmed new infections, as well as another 7,000 preliminary positive cases, a significant increase from roughly 100 daily instances at the start of February, but still lower than in other similar-sized large cities.
Source: CNA
