Hong Kong bars Air India flights till October 3 after passengers test positive for COVID
Air India passenger flights were barred from landing in Hong Kong between August 18 and August 31 after 14 passengers on its Delhi-Hong Kong flight of August 14 tested positive for COVID-19 post arrival.
Passengers from India can arrive in Hong Kong only if they have a COVID-19 negative certificate from a test done within 72 hours prior to the journey, according to rules issued by the Hong Kong government in July.
Moreover, all international passengers are required to undergo a post-flight COVID-19 test at the Hong Kong airport.
A spokesperson of the national carrier confirmed the recent order, saying, "Hong Kong has prohibited Air India for two weeks -- September 20 to October 3."
"There is only one flight scheduled in the two weeks -- the Delhi-Hong Kong flight of September 21. That flight is cancelled and the passengers have been informed," the spokesperson added.
Air India Express had on Friday said its flights were suspended for 24 hours by the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA) for bringing two passengers with COVID-positive certificates on August 28 and September 4.
Air India Express, which is a subsidiary of Air India, resumed its Dubai flights on Saturday.
According to rules in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), every passenger travelling from India is required to bring an original COVID-negative certificate of an RT-PCR test done within 96 hours prior to the journey.
"A few passengers on a September 18 Delhi-Hong Kong flight tested positive for COVID-19 post arrival," the senior government official said.
"As a result, Air India's flights have been banned from September 20 to October 3 by the Hong Kong government," the official added.
Besides India, a pre-flight COVID-19 negative certificate is mandatory for all passengers from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Africa and the US, according to the Hong Kong government's rules.
An airline operating a flight to Hong Kong from any of these nine countries has to submit a form before departure, stating that all passengers on board have COVID-19 negative certificates.
Scheduled international passenger flights continue to remain suspended in India since March 23 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
However, special international flights have been operating with the approval of aviation regulator DGCA.
Air India has been operating special international flights since May 6 under the Vande Bharat Mission to help stranded people reach their destinations.
Since July, India has established separate bilateral air bubble arrangements with countries such as the US, Germany, France, the UAE, the UK and the Maldives for international flight operations.
Under a bilateral air bubble pact, the airlines of both countries can operate international flights with certain restrictions.
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Killing of Khamenei cynical violation of human morality, international law: Putin
Moscow (PTI): The killing of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was a cynical violation of all norms of human morality and international law, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared in his message to his Tehranian counterpart, the Kremlin said Sunday.
Khamenei was killed in an airstrike in Tehran on Saturday during a joint Israel-US attack on Iran.
“Please accept my deepest condolences in connection with the assassination of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Seyyed Ali Khamenei, and members of his family, committed in a cynical violation of all norms of human morality and international law,” Putin said in his condolence message.
Putin's condolence message to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was published on the Kremlin portal.
Earlier on Saturday, Russia condemned the US-Israeli joint strikes on Iran qualifying it as an “unprovoked” aggression against a sovereign state in violation of international law and called for immediate return to diplomacy.
The Russian Foreign Ministry also described the US and Israeli forces' strikes against the Iranian territory as “a pre-planned” act of aggression against an independent UN member state.
Putin also conducted an emergency meeting of the National Security Council online on Saturday to discuss the emerging situation following the US-Israeli strikes and Iran’s retaliation.
Meanwhile, according to reports more than 2,00,000 Russians are stuck in the region due to closure of their airspaces by Iran and Gulf countries.
The situation in the Middle East and the airport closures have affected not only organised tourists from Russia registered with tour operators, but also those travelling on business trips and independently, state-run TASS news agency reported.
“Approximately 2,00,000 people are unable to leave the UAE or return from vacations in the Maldives and other countries,” Alexey Volkov, president of the National Union of Hospitality Industry, told TASS.
UAE and its airports have become a main hub of access to Russia since the Ukraine conflict and closure of EU air space for civilian air traffic under sanction on Moscow.
“The situation remains complex and unpredictable: drone and missile strikes have hit key tourist locations in the UAE, including its most famous hotels.
“And then there are those who aren't counted as tourists at all, but are travelling around the world for business—the Middle East, for example, is currently a major business hub, home to a significant amount of Russian capital, investment, and business,” Volkov said.
