djsflynn

CX overnight updated its website to call out the no-transit rules, although IMHO, the airline could have made the ban much clearer instead of burying it in a table of worldwide travel restrictions.



Seriously – this needs to be featured on the home page, rendered in 100-point 'Helvetica In Your Face', instead of glossy promotions for Student Ticket Fares and Why book on our website? and Move Beyond.

s0ssos

A few more days if you are from Taiwan or Macau

brunos

The official source is
https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/...0032400050.htm

Wonder what will happen to transit pax arriving in HKG today and their transit flight (outbound) is cancelled on short notice.

flubber

YES! I totally agree. I had to look hard for the exact sentence in the table of worldwide travel restrictions.... unlike Singapore Airlines which has it right on top of the page when you attempt to purchase a flight flying into / transiting in Singapore.

:D!

So can a HK permanent ID holder + Australian citizen still transit HKG (e.g. from LHR to SYD) without being quarantined in HK?

bobbytables

With a strict interpretation of what's written, the answer would be no -- it says all transit is stopped, so you'd have to enter HKG and then depart immediately - but your stay would be less than 14 days so that's not permitted either. This seems a bit nonsensical though.

It also says "the Immigration Department will handle each case in accordance with immigration policy, the actual situation and established procedures." If this was the only option to get home I'd be inclined to try it, but the airline might not let you board if they know you're transiting since the rules say all transit is suspended. Separate tickets might be an option, as they would let you board the first ticket as a permanent ID holder.

flubber

I doubt @! will be able to transit in HK. Having a HK permanent ID doesn't matter. I wouldn't risk it - what if you get into HK and you have to serve the 14-day quarantine before you can transit? That would be awful.

That said, CX is still giving me flight options to transit in HK for US flights to SEA.. so who knows!

tfung

HK airport website: "3. All transit/transfer services, including air transit/transfer, cross boundary land transport and cross boundary ferry transfer, are suspended for all passengers at Hong Kong International Airport."

As airside transit has been suspended, you would only be able to enter HK through immigration and exit again on departure level... As HK resident and HK ID card holder now needs to be quarantined flying in from any country, you basically will have to go through 14 days quarantine first before they let you leave again... Non HK residents would not even be allowed to enter HK...

Rain187

The answer is if you have a HKID card then you can enter HK but will have to take the 14 days quarantine, you will be given a waist band with GPS track and expected to stay in your quarantine place for 14 days, all person under quarantine are not allowed to leave HK.

There was a case that a person entered the departure area but decided not to fly, and she was asked to serve the 14-day quarantine when she "re-enter" HK. Though it doesn't make sense and maybe some confusion on enforcing the law by the officer, they are pretty strict, just in case not to risk anything for the community.

JordanWalker

Please stop spreading false information. There is no GPS tracking on the band.

bobbytables

... and neither is it a waistband (sounds uncomfortable) but rather a wristband.

For those interested, you activate it when you get home, and it samples the nearby WiFi, Bluetooth and mobile network signals. Subsequently it tracks whether you're still home based on the presence or otherwise of those signals. Quite a nice solution (when it works), though I don't really know why they are pushing it as "privacy-preserving" - the whole point of quarantine is that they know where you are (i.e. in your house) anyway. They probably didn't use GPS simply because it's not very reliable when you're inside, especially if the only window looks directly onto another high-rise.

percysmith

I-Cable: GPS wristbands being rolled out to new arrivals in lieu of the QR code wristbands

(segment not uploaded yet - it was a segment of three sub-parts - Office of the Govt CIO telling quarantined how to fix their QR codes if they have been given them but unable to activate them http://cablenews.i-cable.com/ci/videopage/news/21351 , explaining away today's Wuhan evacuees are doing Wechat location tracking instead of wristband because their mobiles have no access to Play Store http://cablenews.i-cable.com/ci/videopage/news/21409 , and the new bands to be rolled out)

bobbytables

Interesting. I suspect they've added GPS in addition to the existing tech. Using GPS to determine if you're at home or not is problematic because you have to choose between constant false alarms (because there's nonexistent GPS signal on, say, the 10th floor of a 50-floor building surrounded by other 50-floor buildings) or the trivial vulnerability of wrapping it in tinfoil before you go out. However, GPS is ideal for helping to find out where someone is once you've worked out they're not at home.

percysmith

http://cablenews.i-cable.com/ci/videopage/news/21420

Summary:
- Bluetooth wristbands not GPS wristbands being rolled out (my bad, I have to rewatch the segment to realise it’s not GPS)
- it still has to be tethered to an app. The intention is to make leaving the tethered phone at home easier to spot
- Will be given to new Europe/America arrivals (world except PRC meant, see below). Won’t retrofit existing arrivals (32k QR wristbands) because Govt only has about 10k Bluetooth wristbands
- have to install and activate app and tether before leaving restricted area now - fewer arrivals mean CHP staff are now capable of doing this
- UK and NZ (so applicability is not just Europe/Americas) already started getting Bluetooth wristbands tonight. Arrivals said they didn’t know they had to keep Bluetooth on, CHP officers didn’t make that clear enough.

tentseller

Wouldn't it be simpler to just go buy 100,000 Xiaomi basic fitness tracker which works for locating and tracking to a smartphone via bluetooth?