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Government adjusts temperature screening arrangements for outbound and transit air passengers
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     The Government announced today (September 9) that in view of the gradual removal of COVID-19 prevention and control requirements in overseas places, outbound passengers and transit passengers departing for overseas places or Taiwan via the Hong Kong International Airport will no longer be required to go through temperature screening starting tomorrow (September 10). As for inbound passengers entering Hong Kong, as well as departing passengers bound for the Mainland or Macao, the temperature screening arrangements remain in place.
 
     On the recommendation of the World Health Organization, the Government implemented temperature screening for outbound air passengers (including those departing from Hong Kong and transit passengers who route through Hong Kong to other places) at the beginning of the COVID-19 epidemic in February 2020, in a bid to identifying symptomatic passengers early. Staff of the Department of Health (DH) will conduct assessment on health conditions of the febrile passengers detected during temperature screening and transfer them to hospital for COVID-19 testing. At a time when all places worldwide were taking various containing measures to guard against COVID-19, reinforcing the temperature screening and testing of outbound and transit passengers aimed to curb the epidemic from further spreading over the world and concurrently helped manage the exposure risk posed to other passengers and crew on the same flight.
 
     Some overseas places have started to streamline their inbound anti-epidemic measures in the light of the epidemic development. International travel is also progressively resuming. The Government had already lifted on June 1 this year the pre-departure testing requirement for transit passengers for their Hong Kong-bound flight so as to facilitate transit passengers bound for overseas places or Taiwan. The volume of passengers transiting via the Hong Kong International Airport has subsequently been increasing. Over 185 700 transit passengers were recorded between June and August. Among them, 10 passengers were febrile, with five tested positive for COVID-19. 
 
     Considering that most overseas places have removed inbound restrictions in relation to COVID-19, the Government will suspend from tomorrow the temperature screening for passengers departing from Hong Kong and transit passengers bound for overseas places or Taiwan to facilitate the relevant passengers. Meanwhile, temperature screening arrangements remain in place for inbound passengers entering Hong Kong, as well as departing passengers bound for the Mainland or Macao.
 
     A Government spokesman said, "Passengers who feel sick during transit in Hong Kong can contact the DH through the airline or the Airport Authority Hong Kong. DH's staff will conduct health assessment for them and determine whether referral to hospital for further management is necessary. If the passengers referred to hospital for treatment involved children, the Hospital Authority will accommodate the needs of the family under a child-centred and family-friendly principle, including arranging the family to undergo isolation and treatment together as far as possible."
 
     The spokesman reminded, "Symptomatic persons should avoid travelling, so that they would not put themselves and others at risk."
 
Ends/Friday, September 9, 2022
Issued at HKT 20:28
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