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PETALING JAYA: Hong Kong has banned all flights from Kuala Lumpur for two weeks after five passengers on a flight, transiting Malaysia from India, tested positive for Covid-19.
South China Morning Post reported that Cathay Dragon was notified last night that five of its passengers on flight KA734 tested positive for the virus upon arrival in the city on Friday.
“As a result of the directive from the Department of Civil Aviation, we will suspend our passenger services between Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong until October 3,” Cathay Dragon said in a statement.
It added that affected passengers would be reimbursed or provided alternative travel arrangements.
Since then, the airline has sent the affected aircraft for a deep cleaning and is currently following up close contact with the passengers involved, he said.
The Covid-19 passengers had flown to Malaysia via Air India Express before connecting to Cathay Dragon. Hong Kong authorities said all the passengers’ documents met strict health standards.
Prior to this, Air India Express was banned from entering Hong Kong for two weeks in August, after 12 imported cases were detected.
It was also banned by Dubai authorities last week for 15 days starting on September 18, after the airline’s ground staff brought two passengers who tested positive for Covid-19 on board. However, the ban was lifted after 24 hours.
Despite the risks of increased exposure to the virus, the Hong Kong government had advised people stranded in India to fly via transit routes, such as Kuala Lumpur.
Cases imported from India previously arrived in Hong Kong via Kuala Lumpur, Doha and Singapore.
After the United States, India has the second highest number of Covid-19 cases in the world with 5.3 million.
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