By The SUN
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| Cathay won't be able to fly from and to Manila until Mar 28 |
Hong Kong health authorities have stopped Cathay
Pacific from flying in from Manila for two weeks after five of its passengers
tested positive on arrival Saturday, Mar 13.
A press release issued by the Department of Health at
about 10pm Sunday said it was invoking its right under Cap 599H (Regulation of
Cross-boundary Conveyances and Travellers) by prohibiting the “landing of
passenger flights from Manila operated by CX in Hong Kong from Mar 15 to 28,
2021.”
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The statement said five passengers on board CX 906
which arrived at 1:30pm Saturday were confirmed to have Covid-19 through
specimens collected at the HK International Airport.
All of its passengers should have presented negative
test results for the coronavirus before being allowed to board the flight to
Hong Kong, apart from confirmed bookings for 21 days at a designated quarantine
hotel.
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| An overnight curfew will again be imposed in Metro Manila after a spike in cases |
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On Sunday, 4,999 new Covid-19 cases were reported
across the country, bringing the total number of infections to 621,498. The day
before, more than 5,000 new cases were reported.
Over the weekend, health authorities also reported
that a new coronavirus unique to the Philippines was found. Designated as P.3,
the new strain was discovered after 85 cases “with unique set of mutations”
were submitted to the global reporting system Pangolin (Phylogenetic Assignment
of Named Global Outbreak Lineages).
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There are now 98 cases of this variant in the country,
after 13 more cases were found.
All coronavirus variants, including ones first found
in Britain, South Africa and Brazil, are known to be 70% more infectious.
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However, Philippine health authorities say more data
is needed to say whether the P.3 variant is more transmissible or causes more
severe diseases and increased risk of death.
The new imported cases from the Philippines are
expected to be announced by Hong Kong health authorities in their daily press
briefing today. It takes two positive results in tests for a person to be
identified as a confirmed case in Hong Kong.
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Yesterday, 24 new cases were reported, but they did
not include any imported ones. However, about 20 other cases were designated as
preliminary positive.
Previously, multiple infections were also detected in
a Cebu Pacific flight that arrived in Hong Kong from Manila on Sept. 9, but the
ban was not imposed on the airline.
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Five Filipina domestic helpers from the same
recruitment agency who flew in aboard a 5J flight from Manila tested positive
on arrival in Hong Kong that time, and five others were found infected while in
hotel quarantine on subsequent days.
Three of those infected were sent back to Manila after
treatment, prompting the Consulate to protest to Hong Kong Immigration
authorities, citing a breach in protocol.
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The flight ban was, however, imposed on Air India twice, and on Nepal Airlines once, after multiple cases were found among the passengers they flew into Hong Kong.
A flight ban on Britain, South Africa and Brazil remains in force, in the wake of the virus mutations found in these countries.
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