Hong Kong has banned visitors from India, Pakistan and the Philippines for two weeks starting Tuesday because of fears of a mutant virus strain.
The city recorded 30 new infections Sunday - all but one of which were imported - including several suspected variant cases, bringing all cases to 11,683 as of Monday.
"We have already begun to tighten our passenger flight suspension mechanism," food and health secretary Sophia Chan Siu-chee said during a radio show Sunday.
"Even though some countries have seen a decline in infections after starting their vaccination programs, overall, mutant strains are still spreading and that makes us nervous," she said.
India, Pakistan and the Philippines will be classified as "extremely high risk" from Tuesday with residents and anyone who has spent more than two hours there banned from entry.
Visitors from those countries already in hotel quarantine will be required to take another COVID test on their 26th day in Hong Kong.
A Vistara flight out of Delhi April 4 has become the latest cluster in the city. Forty-seven people on the 188-seat flight fell ill and were joined by a further 22 cases found among visitors from India this month.
Health authorities warned of a resurgence in cases on the back of a relaxation in social distancing rules during a fiveday-long weekend in early April.
"Over the long holiday during Easter, some people may have let their guard down and there were more social gatherings during that period - so we expect some cases to emerge in the coming days," Chan said.
