Hi guys,
Will fly to Amsterdam next week, given the corona virus situation, should I go ahead with Cathay Pacific and have 3 hours transit @ HK airport or start looking for new ticket?
Transit at Hong Kong Airport in The Next 7 Days - Is There Any Risk?
jerome on 29/01/2020 - 16:38
Comments
Remember wash hand before you remove your mask and wash hand again putting on a new one
Virus is also contractible via the eyes, you need eye protection too
Just don't scratch your eyes without sanitising, simple. Short of being sneezes on directly contact to contact it's not going to get into your eyes unless it evolves to be discovered as airbone virus.
If you're staying in Amsterdam for over 2 weeks, we should be fine. If you're likely to be back in Australia within 2 weeks, look for a new ticket.
I would be more worried about the actual plane ride, than the 3 hour transit. You’ll be bubbling in a pot of germs on the plane
Use the plane’s oxygen mask.
Any risk? Everything has risk.
What did your disease advisor say?
They have their voicemail redirected to the OzB Travel Forum…
Cough like crazy then they'll isolate you for few hours till they realise you're no threat and proceed to your next flight. Problem solved
also shouldnt you be worried about the 12hour flight to amsterdam from HK….not the few hours of transit -__-
i thinks you are crazy. anyway, make sure you have travel insurance that covers pandemics https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/515200
Thanks guys for your inputs.
This is a planned trip way back.
Will keep monitoring the situation and review the insurance policy for sure.Cheers
Don't forget to sanitise inflight entertainment and your seat.
Based on current knowledge, your risk is very small - just take sensible precautions. If it was me I wouldn't think twice about undertaking that trip. I went to HK twice in the middle of SARs. I didn't wear a face mask but was careful with hand sanitiser, etc. I was fine.
mask. maybe eye protection.
mask def in plane also.but this thing is going to get ALOT
worse before it gets better.
i would be alot more concerned with your return flight.that's abit unsubstantiated. It takes 14 days incubation so the worse may be currently as all the cases convert to infected. The quarantining an dlock downs and social avoidance by healthy populace and paranoia also mean it could plateau once the initial 14 days of infections start to convert.
No one knows if it will get alot worse, like SARAS in 14 days it may decrease in speed. Alot of the cases increasing now were suspected before (10-12k) so clearly infected will rise from 9k to 20k as these convert. If it keeps increasing to 40, 60k, 80k then by all means it's clear the initial wave of sick persons have well rippled outwards.
Alot of plane contact is person to person physical. Use hand sanitiser constantly and wipe your phone and belongings down before hand sanitising , basically try not to touch mouth, eyes (rubbing), nose.
Short of being coughed on in close proximity they say that filters in planes recylce air and particles out, so it may be a myth that recycled air will get you sick , more the actual touching of headrests etc as people walk past, tray tables.
I too am going through HK in 2 weeks. I'm of two minds - in two weeks quarantining will be so widespread that social interaction on transit through HK and planes will be less. Everyone will be wiping their chairs down with wipes - if anything the chance sof catching it in 2 weeks will be minimised and planes will be at their cleanest.
That said if it evolves to spread airborne etc. that's a different matter. So far everyone catching it ha sbee nclose contact (same tour group, doctor treating it, husband/wife, family etc.)
We got an option from qantas to reroute through singapore to tokyo instead of HK to tokyo. But alas like you we planned this yonks ago and it means forgoing business to go economy :( interestingly enough singapore has the same number of cases as hk - 10 in grand scheme of things. so maybe on the basis of infected their isn't really an argument that HK's proximity makes it at risk.
Also someone mentioned travel insurance - allianz when i rang couldn't give definite answers but the first perosn I spoke to said no - epidemics aren't covered. 2nd said you could put a medical expenses claim in, but it's up for review and that the 'epidemic' clause is up in air. In other words potentially no cover, and no answer can be given.
We got our insurance pre-riots even! It's a big rort. Should be retrospectively covered, but watch out for them worming their way out. Wash hands, sanitised reguularly and sleep well before going. Hopefully when we both go in a week and two respectively cases wil have plateaued as people stay indoors out of fear of infection.
Just take the transit and be smart: Wear a flu mask, dispose of it every 15-30 minutes (your breath will dampen the mask, so you want to replace it periodically), and carry hand sanitizer with you.