They will be added to the high risk category of Group A countries, meaning non-residents will be banned from entry. Hong Kong residents who return from those countries must accept a 21-day quarantine at designated quarantine hotels.

Meanwhile, a Pakistani family was believed to have passed the coronavirus to three other passengers on the same flight to Hong Kong, due to sharing the toilets and coming into contact on the plane.

The Pakistani family of eight and three others on November 21 took Emirates flight EK384 from Dubai to Hong Kong via Thailand.

The three passengers were an Indian couple and a man who boarded the plane in Bangkok.

Three of the Pakistanis tested positive upon arriving at the airport. The remaining five family members and three other passengers subsequently tested positive during quarantine.

All of them carried the L452R (Delta) mutant strain. Genetic sequencing found their source of infection to be the same, indicating the family -- who were diagnosed of the infection first -- could have passed the coronavirus to the others.