Coronavirus: Hong Kong experts call for end to cargo aircrew self-isolation ‘loophole’ as city battles to keep Omicron variant at bay

Allowing cargo aircrew to self-isolate after arriving in Hong Kong represents a major loophole in the city’s bid to keep out Covid-19’s new Omicron variant, medical experts have said, urging the government to change the policy.

Calling the next two weeks crucial in determining if the variant had spread into the community, respiratory medicine expert Dr Leung Chi-chiu on Friday said authorities should tighten aircrew quarantine rules to further reduce any transmission risk.

Leung also called it “contradictory” that travellers from the highest-risk countries where Omicron was spreading were now being sent directly to the government-run Penny’s Bay facility while some aircrew remained exempted.

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“I don’t see the difference in transmission risk between regular travellers and cargo workers coming from the same areas abroad,” Leung told a local radio programme.

Cathay imposes stricter self-isolation rules for aircrew returning to Hong Kong

Currently, local cargo aircrews flying from Anchorage, Alaska – a critical Cathay Pacific cargo stopover – and a number of high-risk countries such as Australia, Singapore and Thailand are exempted from hotel quarantine when back in the city.

Instead, they are required to remain in their homes for the first three days. But even then, they are allowed to leave for up to two hours a day for specific purposes such as purchasing food and essential daily necessities.

Friday’s calls to change that policy came just a day after a cargo pilot exempted from quarantine upon returning from Anchorage was feared to be carrying the Omicron variant after testing preliminary-positive for Covid-19.

The 36-year-old Cathay Pacific pilot’s infection raised fears that the highly transmissive variant may have been spread during the brief periods he was in the community buying food and travelling to mandatory coronavirus screenings.

Hong Kong has confirmed nine Omicron cases so far, all imported, while whole genome sequencing will be needed to determine if the pilot is truly carrying the new variant.

Cathay Pacific fires 3 pilots with Covid-19 after probe finds ‘serious breach’

Dr Leung on Friday suggested that government require aircrew currently being allowed to self-isolate instead be required to undergo a 14-day quarantine after returning to Hong Kong.

Leung stressed that any spread of Omicron in the community from aircrew could lead to a tightening of social-distancing measures, further hampering the economy.

Gilman Siu Kit-hang, associate professor of Polytechnic University’s health, technology and informatics department, meanwhile, agreed that the new challenges posed by Omicron should bring an end to aircrew exemptions, particularly as Hong Kong was trying to get its border with the mainland reopened.

“Early testing this time might have prevented a wider spread in the community,” he said.

But Siu also said he believed it was not yet time to impose flight bans on Omicron-hit countries such as Britain, as there was not any mass importation of cases despite the epidemic raging there.

“Once we get to 20 or more imported cases every day, as we have seen before, there will be some that lead to hotel transmissions or even in the community. That might be the time to consider flight bans,” he said.

The government has yet to elevate Britain to the highest-risk level despite the confirmation of two imported omicron cases from the country earlier this week.

It’s [not surprising] there were no cases found in the overnight testing because there’s a 14 to 21-day incubation period

Respiratory medicine expert Dr Leung Chi-chiu

Currently, only the United States and a group of 12 African countries occupy that enhanced tier. Arrivals from those countries are required to quarantine at the government’s Penny’s Bay facility for the first week of their 21-day isolation.

An overnight mandatory testing at the Cheung Hing Building in Yau Ma Tei, home to the infected Cathay pilot, meanwhile, found no coronavirus cases by the time it wrapped up screenings for about 160 people on Friday morning.

That, however, did not mean no one had been infected, Leung said.

Cathay cargo pilot tests positive for Covid-19 in Hong Kong, lockdown ordered

“It’s [not surprising] there were no cases found in the overnight testing because there’s a 14 to 21-day incubation period for the coronavirus to infect others,” he said.

“While we’re fine now, we do not know if there’s been any transmission within the community, so the next 14 days are a critical period.”

Leung also suggested that people living near the residence of the infected cargo pilot should be subject to more regular and compulsory Covid-19 testing.

“The spread of Omicron is scary,” Leung said. “If, unfortunately, the living environment [of the patient] is conducive to a superspreader event, it will spread rapidly in the city.”

Additional reporting by Victor Ting

More from South China Morning Post:

• Omicron variant: how long can Hong Kong maintain tough quarantine rules amid global wave? Experts warn current approach unsustainable
• Coronavirus: 3,000 cross-border travellers a day ‘doable’ when Hong Kong-mainland China border reopens; city awaiting results on possible first Omicron case in community
• Penny’s Bay diary: Dante’s Inferno? Hardly. But whisky with the neighbours will have to wait as life in a Spartan dorm room commences

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