Hong Kong to lift ban on flights from nine countries

Hong Kong will resume international flights from the United States, Britain and seven other countries, the government said on Monday as it announced a loosening of some of the world's toughest COVID-19 restrictions.

The finance hub has struggled to maintain China's zero-tolerance policy during an Omicron-fuelled outbreak that has sparked a huge surge in cases and put the city in the spotlight with one of the highest COVID fatality rates in the developed world.

After the highly transmissible variant fuelled a wave of cases, authorities banned flights from nine countries deemed high-risk — including the United States, Britain, France and India.

But infections climbed rapidly. Hong Kong has recorded more than a million cases and 5,900 deaths this year, with the bulk of the toll among its unvaccinated elderly population.

On Monday, Ms. Lam said Hong Kong will lift flight bans for the nine countries from April 1.

"The epidemic situations in those countries are not worse than Hong Kong's, and most arrivals did not have serious symptoms," she said during a press conference.

Hong Kong has also reduced the quarantine period for vaccinated arrivals starting April 1 to seven days in a designated hotel, followed by another seven days of at-home monitoring.