Pilots made to wear trackers as Hong Kong boosts Covid rules

Bloomberg

Hong Kong is further tightening quarantine rules for airline staff, with cargo pilots isolating at home to be tracked with electronic monitoring bracelets and crew on passenger planes who have been in countries with high levels of the virus made to quarantine for 14 days.
The updated rules, set out in a document seen by Bloomberg News, was to come into effect Wednesday. The strengthened protocols for turnaround cargo pilots and cargo crew, the last remaining category of flight staff to not require hotel quarantine, close a loophole that allowed some to shirk stay-at-home orders because there was no monitoring or checking in place.
Hong Kong is grappling with a renewed Covid-19 outbreak that’s spurred record levels of daily infections, prompting authorities to seek to further limit social activities as the hub hews to China’s Covid-zero policy. The government approved measures that extend gathering limits to private premises for the first time in a bid to prevent residents from socializing, and limit group sizes in public to two people, down from four.
The Transport and Housing Bureau, which issued the directive, said in an emailed response that its evolving changes factor in public health considerations and the operational needs of airlines.
Previously, aircrew flying to 10 so-called Group A countries — including the UK and Indonesia — were required to quarantine for 14 days. And when the rest of the world’s countries were gradually shifted into the highest-risk category since late last year, airlines retained an amendment to quarantine crews coming from most nations for a reduced period of seven days. That’s now been wiped away.
Additionally as part of the enhanced aircrew rules, airlines will be required to supply authorities with some form of “visual documentation” regarding staff working abroad as part of strict audit checks, the document shows, without going into detail about what that might be.
Airlines also won’t be able to mix-and-match locally based and overseas aircrew on the same flight, and all aircrew on the same flight can only fly together if they’re quarantining for the same length of time. For cargo crew based in Hong Kong, the electronic bracelets will need to be worn at all times for the first three days upon return to the city, according to the document.
Considering there are very few carriers flying in and out of Hong Kong, the tightened rules will mainly impact Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., already subject to twin government investigations