Coronavirus: Hong Kong pilots to be barred from leaving home for 3 days in tougher surveillance system, as Cathay Pacific decries ‘endless’ rules

Pilots will not be allowed out for exercise, food or other errands – Cathay says it has to ‘keep dodging the bullets’ from the ‘endless’ challenges

Airline hopes to start ‘China bubble’ flights in February with less stringent Covid-19 rules for dedicated crew

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Pilots are poised to be subject to tougher coronavirus surveillance rules. Photo: May Tse

Published: 5:56pm, 23 Dec 2021Updated: 9:51pm, 23 Dec 2021

Hong Kong will further clamp down on Cathay Pacific’s quarantine-exempt pilots, forbidding them from leaving their homes to buy food and perform other essential tasks in their first three days of Covid-19 surveillance, the Post has learned.

The airline is also preparing for a mid-February launch of “China bubble” flights, with the expectation that dedicated crew operating the services will be subject to less stringent testing and surveillance requirements.

Pilots undergoing the mandatory seven days of enhanced medical surveillance (EMS) on arrival in Hong Kong are currently allowed to leave their accommodation for solo exercise, purchasing food and running other errands.

However, those privileges are set to be removed and they will only be permitted to head outside for Covid-19 testing, medical appointments or to operate a flight.

The tougher rules follow a pilot recently testing positive for the highly transmissible Omicron variant. The pilot had gone out for food before taking a Covid-19 test. There was no suggestion of wrongdoing on the part of the staff member, a preliminary probe by the airline found.