US Warns Against Hong Kong Travel Over COVID-19 Restrictions and Children Separations

A child waves as she sits in a vehicle carrying residents evacuated from a public housing building, following the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, outside Hong Mei House, at Cheung Hong Estate in Hong Kong on Feb. 11, 2020. Tyrone Siu/Reuters

The U.S. consulate on March 2 warned citizens not to travel to Hong Kong, citing the risk of parents being separated from children due to the local government’s COVID-19 restrictions.

The updated advice comes amid fears that Hong Kong may be bracing for a citywide lockdown as the local officials are under pressure from Beijing to contain its worst outbreak under the Chinese Communist Party’s zero-COVID policy.

Hong Kong reported a new daily record of 55,353 new cases, up from 32,597 a day earlier. Health authorities also recorded 117 deaths on Wednesday.

“The Travel Advisory is now at Level 4:–Do Not Travel due to COVID-19 and COVID-19 related restrictions, including the risk of parents and children being separated,” the U.S. Consulate General Hong Kong and Macau said in a statement.

“We especially want to note for families considering traveling to or residing in Hong Kong that in some cases, children in Hong Kong who test positive have been separated from their parents and kept in isolation until they meet local hospital discharge requirements,” read the statement.

The consulate cautioned U.S. residents that the risk regarding “arbitrary enforcement of local laws” in Hong Kong is “the same” as in other mainland cities.

Following Beijing’s zero-COVID playbook, Hong Kong officials have placed people who tested positive, including children and infants, into quarantine facilities, with no visits from family members allowed.

Last month, an 11-month-old baby who tested positive was isolated by herself in a public hospital, stoking fears among Hong Kong’s parents that they could face a similar situation in the upcoming mass screening.

The first mandatory testing of the city’s 7.5 million residents will start this month.

A Cathay Pacific aircraft comes in to land at Hong Kong International Airport on Aug. 11, 2021. ISAAC LAWRENCE/AFP via Getty Images

The U.S. consulate also highlighted regime’s zero-COVID policy “severely impacts travel and access to public services.”

Currently, there are no direct flights from the United States to Hong Kong. Hong Kong authorities have banned all incoming flights from nine countries it deems “high-risk,” including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada, until at least April 20.

All international arrivals are required to isolate for two weeks in hotel quarantine and one week at home, while arrivals from mainland China and Macao must quarantine for one week in hotel quarantine and one week at home, unless they have been overseas for more than two hours in the last 14-day period. International arrivals must clear six PCR tests in quarantine before being allowed out for self-isolation.

Workers at the construction site of a COVID-19 isolation facility in Tsing Yi in Hong Kong on Feb. 25, 2022. Louise Delmotte/Getty Images

The former British colony has banned dining in restaurants after 6 p.m., closed gyms and bars, and barred unvaccinated people from shopping malls and supermarkets.

Despite the draconian measures, daily infections have ballooned from 100 at the begging of February to more than 55,000 on Wednesday.

Health experts from the University of Hong Kong estimated that about 1.7 million people were already infected by Feb. 28, with the coming week expected to bring a peak of about 183,000 daily infections.

Reuters contributed to this report.