KATHMANDU, May 31: As many as 330 people from China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) will be evacuated from Nepal on Monday, the HKSAR government announced today.
The two special flights will be arranged to bring Hong Kong residents stranded in Nepal due to COVID-19 pandemic back home, according to China's state-owned Xinhua News Agency.
"The special flights, carrying about 330 passengers, are tentatively scheduled to depart Kathmandu on Monday (June 1)," Xinhua said in its latest report.
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Upon arrival in Hong Kong, the returnees will proceed to the Temporary Specimen Collection Center of the HKSAR government's Department of Health for compulsory COVID-19 testing. They will then be transferred to the quarantine center for a 14-day compulsory quarantine period.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Nepal has imposed strict restrictions on all land and air traffic since late March, preventing Hong Kong residents from arranging flights to leave Nepal on their own.
As of May 30, the Immigration Department of the HKSAR government received assistance requests from about 1,300 Hong Kong residents stranded in Nepal. Most of them are currently located in Bagmati and Gandaki provinces in the central part of Nepal, Xinhua said.
"The HKSAR government said it will continue to liaise with the Consulate-General of Nepal in Hong Kong and airlines to arrange other special flights to help stranded Hong Kong residents return home in batches," the report added.
