HONG KONG: Hong Kong will quarantine arrivals in the city for 14 days starting midnight on Thursday (Mar 19) to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the Asian financial hub's leader Carrie Lam said on Tuesday.
Speaking at her weekly press briefing, the Chinese-ruled city's leader Carrie Lam also advised residents to avoid all non-essential travel.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Those arriving in Hong Kong will be put under home quarantine, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported.
The new restrictions will not apply to arrivals from mainland China, Macau or Taiwan, reported SCMP.
Since Feb 8, anyone arriving in the city from mainland China, except Hubei province, would face a mandatory two-week quarantine as part of measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Residents from Hubei province have been barred from entering Hong Kong since January.
Advertisement
Advertisement
READ: COVID-19: Hong Kong to charge daily fee to stay in quarantine facility
Hong Kong detected its first cases as early as January, but thanks to severe social distancing measures and a strong community response has managed to avoid the scale of contagion seen in other countries and territories.
It now faced the risk that visitors carrying the virus could spread it in Hong Kong, undoing the city's efforts so far, which have involved significant economic and social sacrifices.
Schools, which have been shut since January, were unlikely to resume on Apr 20 as initially planned, Lam said.
"In many countries the number of confirmed cases can be described as explosive," Lam said.
"If we dont adopt some strict measures … Im afraid all precaution efforts done in the past two months would be wasted. It will affect the public health of Hong Kong."
Four of the 157 confirmed coronavirus patients in Hong Kong have died. Fifty of the latest 57 cases were people with recent travel history, Lam said.
Hong Kong had previously designated three public housing blocs for quarantine, but those will be reserved for the high-risk cases.
The lower-risk cases will be asked to stay under home quarantine or be placed under surveillance, which can include electronic wristbands with movement trackers, irregular landline phone calls and other means.
The outbreak in Hong Kong has brought back memories of the 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and triggered a strong response from the community.
Hand sanitizers are freely available in shopping malls and office buildings, where people's temperatures are also checked electronically.
_
__ <img src=” rel=”noreferrer” target=”_blank”>
channel news asia
channel news asia
