With Hong Kong’s fifth COVID wave described as “on the verge of breaking out,” Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced at a press conference today (January 5) that new entry restrictions and a flight ban will be implemented to contain the fifth wave.

　　... The measures I am announcing today were decided after considering passenger traffic—where Hong Kong people generally return from—as well as imported case data. I now announce that starting at 12:00 a.m. on January 8, for a period of 14 days, until midnight on January 21, the following eight countries will be subject to a regional flight-specific “circuit breaker” mechanism. In other words, all civil passenger flights from these countries will be prohibited from landing in Hong Kong, and people who have stayed in any of these eight countries will also be prohibited from boarding any civil passenger flight to Hong Kong. That means even transit passengers are not allowed—if someone wants to transit from one of these places to Hong Kong but has previously stayed there, they cannot come; if they fly to Hong Kong from a place outside these eight countries but have stayed in one of the eight places within a certain period, they also cannot come. This is a stricter measure. These eight places are Australia, Canada, France, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, and the United States. If you have been following the imported cases we recently announced, many have come from these regions. We hope this measure can substantially reduce the number of virus cases entering Hong Kong.

I fully understand that this measure will cause inconvenience for many Hong Kong residents who have already booked flights to return, as well as overseas travelers planning to come to Hong Kong for business. It will also affect many of their personal plans and travel arrangements. However, Hong Kong is now facing a rapidly worsening epidemic situation. If we do not take this measure, it will not only affect public safety, but also undo Hong Kong’s anti-epidemic efforts. Therefore, we must take decisive action. I hope everyone can understand.

Flight Ban

From January 8 to January 22, flights from the following 8 countries will be prohibited from landing in Hong Kong, and residents of these countries will also be barred from transiting to Hong Kong:

  • United States
  • Canada
  • United Kingdom
  • Australia
  • France
  • India
  • Pakistan
  • Philippines

As for the exact definition of who qualifies as a resident, further clarification is still pending. This ban prohibits anyone, including Hong Kong permanent residents, from traveling to Hong Kong.

Departing from Hong Kong

Because of the flight ban, flights from Hong Kong to these countries will be canceled across the board. If you plan to travel from mainland China to these countries via Hong Kong, such as to the United States, those flights will also be canceled. If you need to return to the US, we suggest looking into alternative routes in the near term.