Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

Hong Kong airport Covid-19 test time halved, closing flight ban loophole

Hong Kong airport Covid-19 test time halved, closing flight ban loophole

Changes were enabled by a new laboratory, ensuring same-day results and faster response time to penalise carriers bringing in infected passengers.

Hong Kong health authorities have said it will take no more than four hours to analyse Covid-19 swabs of airport arrivals, halving the original time and effectively closing a loophole that allowed airlines to escape a ban for bringing in infected passengers.

The changes, which took effect on Thursday and were enabled by a new laboratory at Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA), meant coronavirus test results were more likely to be returned on the same day, said Chinese University’s Professor David Hui Shu-cheong, a government adviser on the pandemic.

Previously, results would take eight hours or more, and travellers who arrived in the afternoon or later had to wait overnight at a holding hotel.

The slow processing time of airport tests came under the spotlight after Qatar Airways avoided a two-week ban from HKIA on a technicality, as some travellers failed to receive same-day results, preventing authorities from enforcing prompt punishment on the carrier.

The government confirmed to the Post on Thursday that the new Covid-19 PCR lab set-up “has a shorter turnaround time, and the new arrangement is expected to reduce travellers’ waiting time for test results to less than four hours in general”.

Inbound travellers are screened for the virus upon arrival at HKIA, with medical professionals taking nasal and throat swab samples for analysis.


Britain is off-limits for the time being.


The Qatar Airways case raised the possibility of a loophole, as it was revealed that authorities treated imported infections differently, depending on whether passengers on a particular flight got their results on the same day, and at the airport, which would count as an infraction against the airline.

The delay occurred when travellers had left the airport and spent a night in the holding hotel.

Separately, the government closed another possible loophole involving travellers from Britain. On Thursday, it said anyone who had been in the country – which has been struck by a new Covid-19 strain – for more than two hours within 21 days of boarding would be prevented from flying into Hong Kong. The health minister made the move on the advice of experts.

Before this, travellers could evade tougher scrutiny on arrival at HKIA by staying outside Britain for 14 days, particularly elsewhere in Europe, before returning to Hong Kong and quarantining for two weeks.

As part of a tougher response to the deteriorating Covid-19 situation in Britain, flights from the country to Hong Kong have been banned, mandatory quarantine in a designated hotel has been increased to three weeks, and any traveller who arrived since December 2 would be required to extend their isolation to 21 days as well.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
×