Coronavirus: Hong Kong wants to ease Covid-19 flight ban policy to allow residents, workers to return to the city, Philippines consul general says

Authorities are looking at allowing Hong Kong residents, and those with the right to work in the city, to return from countries classified as the highest risk for Covid-19, says consul general

Flight bans are currently in force for countries including Philippines, Indonesia and India, barring entry to Hong Kong even for residents

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Passengers prepare to travel at Manila's International Airport in the Philippines. Photo: AP

Published: 8:00pm, 12 Jul 2021Updated: 10:33am, 13 Jul 2021

Fully vaccinated Hong Kong residents and those with work visas arriving from all countries subject to Covid-19 flight bans will be allowed into the city under the initial stage of an official plan to ease travel restrictions, according to the Philippines’ top diplomat locally.

Consul general Raly Tejada revealed on Monday that discussions were held last week between the Philippine consulate and city authorities on lifting the direct flight bans in place to guard against the coronavirus threat from overseas.

Hong Kong banned flights arriving from the Philippines and Indonesia in April and June, respectively. Both countries were classified as “extremely high risk” for the coronavirus, a category that also includes Britain and India.

Employment agencies estimate that more than 5,000 domestic helpers are stuck in the Philippines and Indonesia because of the measure. Desperate local employers, they added, were currently willing to offer salaries as high as HK$8,000 (US$1,030) a month – 73 per cent more than the minimum – to helpers already in the city.

Tejada told the Post that the consulate had asked Hong Kong officials to re-examine the Philippines’ classification to allow city residents and those with the right to work in the Asian finance hub to be allowed to return.

City authorities “recognised the need” for those people to return, Tejada said.

“Hong Kong initially plans to facilitate the return of vaccinated residents and workers from all countries currently under the ban,” he said.

“They were also careful to add that the plan is not final and details of the scheme still need to be thrashed out.”