香港「どこにも行かないクルーズ」船に帰港命令　コロナ検査で

【香港ＡＦＰ＝時事】香港発着の「どこにも行かないクルーズ」の客船で５日、乗客乗員３７００人のうち９人が新型コロナウイルスの変異株「オミクロン株」の濃厚接触者と判明し、検査のための帰港が命じられた。（写真は香港のターミナルに停泊するクルーズ船「スペクトラム・オブ・ザ・シーズ」）
　香港は中国本土と同じように感染者ゼロを目指す「ゼロコロナ」戦略を取っており、事実上の国境封鎖や数週間にわたる隔離、局地的ロックダウン（都市封鎖）、大規模検査といった世界的にも厳しい措置を続けている。
　香港ではこれまでに、１１４人のオミクロン株感染が確認されているが、その大半は空港や香港到着後の２１日間のホテル隔離中に検出された。しかし、キャセイパシフィック航空の従業員に関連する感染が広がったことを受け、ここ数日は大規模検査や濃厚接触者の追跡が行われている。
　クルーズ船「スペクトラム・オブ・ザ・シーズ」の濃厚接触者９人は、追跡調査で判明した。乗客２５００人と乗員１２００人については、検査で陰性であれば下船が認められる。
　香港では厳格な感染防止策により、これまでの感染者は１万２０００人余り、死者は２１３人にとどまっている。
　しかし、厳格な対策は金融ハブ香港を中国本土を含む世界から孤立させた。世界の他の金融ハブが新型コロナとの共存を目指す一方、香港では人材の維持・確保が難しくなっており、多国籍企業からは不満の声が上がっている。
　航空会社も香港の空港利用を避け始めており、操縦士や乗務員を香港から移動させる企業も出ている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/01/06-11:01）

Hong Kong announced strict new anti-coronavirus controls on Wednesday, banning flights from eight nations, shuttering bars and gyms and cancelling evening restaurant dining after the Omicron variant was detected within the city.
The restrictions are the latest economic blow to an international business hub pursuing a zero-Covid strategy that has kept cases low but left residents cut off from the rest of the world.
Like mainland China, Hong Kong has maintained some of the world's harshest measures throughout the pandemic -- including virtually closed borders, weeks-long quarantines, targeted lockdowns and mass testing.
The city has recorded 114 Omicron cases as of Tuesday evening, with the vast majority identified at the airport or during the 21-day hotel quarantine that is mandatory for most arrivals.
But a small community outbreak traced to Cathay Pacific airline staff in recent days has sparked the imposition of tough new measures.
Chief executive Carrie Lam said health officials now fear the contagious variant was silently spreading within the community.
We have cases that have their sources identified but not the route of transmission, she told reporters.
Flights from Australia, Canada, France, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, UK and US will be banned from midnight on Saturday for two weeks.
- Business restrictions -
All large-scale public events will be cancelled while from Friday over a dozen types of businesses, including bars, nightclubs, gyms, and beauty parlours, will have to close.
Dining inside restaurants will be banned after 6:00 pm.
All cruises have also been cancelled -- on Wednesday a ship carrying 3,700 passengers and crew returned to port for mass testing after nine people were traced as close contacts of an Omicron case.
Hong Kong has bounced between heavy and light social distancing restrictions throughout the pandemic.
Compulsory mask-wearing, limits on more than four people gathering in public and restaurant quotas have remained even during periods when no local cases were detected for weeks at a time.
The restrictions have hammered the tourist and bar sectors and left international businesses struggling to retain and recruit talent.
The catering sector had a torrid 2020 but largely bounced back last year as residents flocked to local restaurants and hotels.
Hong Kong's strict rules have kept the city enviably free of the virus, with just over 12,000 cases and 213 deaths since the pandemic began.
Lam has said that resuming travel routes with mainland China must come before reopening to the rest of the world.
But there has been little concrete progress on that front and the latest outbreak has once again caused a setback.
Hong Kong's ability to reopen has also been hampered by poor vaccine takeup.
Despite ample supplies, only 70 percent of Hong Kongers have chosen to have two doses and the rates among the elderly -- the demographic most likely to die in the event of an outbreak -- is far lower.