Hong Kong to ban all British flights to stem spread of COVID-19, variant

June 28 (UPI) -- Hong Kong announced on Monday that it will soon begin banning all passenger flights from Britain in an effort to stem a resurgence of COVID-19 and the Delta variant there.

Hong Kong officials said British flights will be barred entry beginning on Thursday.

With the move, Britain will be returned to the list of "extremely high risk" countries due to the spread of the Delta variant of the virus there.

British officials extended lockdowns earlier this month due to rising variant cases.

Hong Kong said it's detected an increase in the number of variant cases in tests from people arriving in the Chinese territory.

Authorities had already tightened quarantine rules for British travelers, including mandated three-week quarantines, whether they are vaccinated or not.

Under the new rules, anyone who's been in Britain for more than two hours over the last 21 days will not be able to enter Hong Kong.

Hong Kong lifted an initial travel ban on British flights in May.

To date, there have been almost 12,000 COVID-19 cases and about 200 related deaths, according to government figures.

Other nations on the "extremely high risk" list include Indonesia, India, Nepal, Pakistan and the Philippines.