Hong Kong’s leader defended allowing the head of JP Morgan Chase to skip a three-week Covid quarantine imposed on most other visitors, saying he worked for “a very big bank” The comments came as Hong Kong also announced more than 100 cargo pilots had been ordered into mandatory quarantine and that the city was at risk of running out of air crew.
JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon landed on Monday for a 32-hour whirlwind tour without undergoing the usual 21-day hotel quarantine even as the international business hub tightens restrictions to adhere to China’s “zero-Covid” strategy.
Earlier this year HSBC’s boss was forced to undergo a full quarantine during a trip to the city. As far as I know the reason was economic,” Hong Kong’s chief executive Carrie Lam told reporters when asked why Dimon had been given a rare exemption.
“After all it’s a very big bank with important businesses in Hong Kong,” she said, adding that the risk of transmission was low because Dimon’s itinerary was short. Hong Kong has maintained some of the world’s harshest quarantine measures and travel restrictions during the pandemic.
The strategy has kept infections low but ensured a business hub that dubs itself “Asia’s World City” has been cut off internationally for the past 20 months.
In a meeting with reporters, Dimon himself said Hong Kong’s anti-coronavirus regime “does make it harder” for his bank, Bloomberg News reported.
The banking chief’s exemption came as Lam announced 130 Cathay Pacific cargo crew were being sent to a mandatory quarantine for 21 days after three tested positive for the coronavirus on return from Germany.
Lam admitted the move would have a “huge impact on our supply of goods”. If there are a couple more of these cases, we will run out of cargo pilots,” she added.
But she said the measures were necessary to keep the city free from infection. In a statement, Cathay said the airline was “trying our best to maintain our cargo network as much as we can” despite “challenging circumstances
Source: eNCA
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