For 22-year old Timmin Lam, who is studying in Manchester, the ban on flights from the United Kingdom to Hong Kong this week is the latest in a series of unrelenting measures that have prevented him from travelling home for almost two years.

“I feel trapped in the UK. I really wish the pandemic would improve,” he said.

Authorities in the global financial hub said on Monday that Hong Kong would ban passenger flights from the UK starting July 1 to curb the spread of the Delta variant of Covid-19.

Britain has been categorised as extremely high risk and people who have stayed in the country for more than two hours will be unable to board passenger flights for Hong Kong, according to Reuters.

It is the second time that the Chinese-ruled hub has barred arrivals from Britain; the earlier ban was in force from December 2020 until May.