Travel Restrictions In Hong Kong Could Have Serious Repercussions

International business organizations are asking Hong Kong to resume international flights after a rating agency warned that travel restrictions imposed last week due to COVID-19 outbreaks might have negative impact on the economy.

Fitch Ratings said, “A new wave of restrictions on various social activities within Hong Kong and a further tightening of controls on international travel … are likely to dampen economic growth prospects.”

Some Hong Kong executives who flew out of the territory for the Christmas holidays discovered that they could not return due to the new restrictions, which are expected to last at least two weeks but might continue longer.

Fitch said, “We believe the tightening of restrictions on international arrivals will create further obstacles to the territory’s ability to serve as a regional headquarters” for foreign multinational companies.

The Cyprus Mail reports that a University of Cyprus scientist and his team have discovered a new COVID variant. Dr. Leontios Kostrikis told the publication that deltacron has the genetic background of the delta variant and some of the mutations of omicron.

On Sunday, Australia’s New South Wales state recorded 16 COVID-19 deaths, the state’s worst day in the two-year pandemic. The state, Australia’s most populated, has already isolated 200,000 people and recorded more than 30,000 new cases.

More than 100,000 people came to the streets throughout France on January 8th to protest planned new restrictions that would need evidence of vaccination to eat out, ride on intercity trains, or attend a cultural event.

Protesters marched in various German towns on Saturday, asking those restrictions on individuals who have not been vaccinated against the coronavirus be lifted. The major protests took place in Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, and Magdeburg. Protests against coronavirus limitations were also held on Saturday in Turin, Italy, and Beirut, Lebanon.