The compulsory quarantine arrangements for persons arriving in Hong Kong from overseas took effect on March 19.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (Photo: IANS)
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam on Tuesday reiterated zero tolerance against breaching mandatory quarantine orders on inbound travellers, urging members of the public for self-discipline and cooperation in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
Addressing a press conference, Lam said that Hong Kong has witnessed a rapid increase in the number of confirmed cases over the past week, from about 300 infections seven days ago to more than 600 on Monday, mostly involving the city’s residents returning form overseas, according to the media report.
Lam further added, the large number of additional imported cases have put the tens of thousands of people taking part in Hong Kong’s anti-pandemic work under greater stress.
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The compulsory quarantine arrangements for persons arriving in Hong Kong from overseas took effect on March 19.
The city government’s Department of Health has issued quarantine orders to 50,000 persons, and more than 70 persons were found to be breaching the restrictions, according to Lam.
Earlier, Lam announced that full resumption of school classes on April 20 was “quite impossible” and the government would continue to not organise any large-scale events.
While announcing the new measure, she did not reveal a date for how long they would be in place.
In 2003, 299 Hong Kongers were killed by an outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) — 40 per cent of the global total fatalities.
The novel Coronavirus outbreak has caused alarm as it has crossed global fatalities in the 2002-03 SARS epidemic.
Hong Kong has reported a total of 682 confirmed cases with four deaths.
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