File photo. Farooq Naeem—AFP
Local media says returnees all tested positive at quarantine centers and have not had any contact with general public
Hong Kong on Monday reported 30 new infections of the novel coronavirus—all imported from abroad—with 29 of them having recently returned to the city from Pakistan.
The 30 new cases of COVID-19, according to local media, is the highest single-day count in more than two months in the city, which has been one of the early success stories in its handling of the pandemic. They push the city’s total number of infections to more than 1,160.
According to local media in Hong Kong, the returnees from Pakistan all tested positive at the city’s quarantine centers, and none had come into contact with the general public, preventing the local spread of the disease.
Residents returning from places deemed high risk, including India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, are sent to the centers for a mandatory stay of 14 days before being allowed to go home. According to Hong Kong’s Center for Health Protection, the highest number of infections found on the same flight was recorded on May 30, when 16 of 83 passengers on flight QR818, also from Pakistan, tested positive.
South Korea on Sunday announced it was restricting visas to, and flights from, Pakistan and Bangladesh following a surge in novel coronavirus cases from travelers arriving from the two countries. Hong Kong has not issued any similar restrictions following the newly imported cases.
Pakistan currently has more than 100,000 active cases of the virus, placing it in the unenviable company of the top 5 nations that continue to suffer the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic.