Hongkongers and residents fleeing Covid-19 outbreak confronted with hard decisions about jobs, children’s schooling

Government’s decision to close all schools to help contain the outbreak gives exodus a fillip

Illness threatens city’s ability to keep and attract talent

Reading Time:4 minutes

A passenger has her temperature taken at Hong Kong International Airport. The city’s anti-government protests and the Covid-19 outbreak are proving to be catalysts for life decisions among its residents. Photo: Reuters

Published: 10:00am, 16 Feb 2020Updated: 10:53pm, 16 Feb 2020

As a cordon sanitaire tightened around Hong Kong and the local population stockpiled surgical masks, rice and toilet paper, local flag carrier Cathay Pacific quietly laid on extra flights to far-flung destinations such as New York and Vancouver so that people could escape the city.

Sami Hine joined the throngs deserting Hong Kong to wait out the new coronavirus. She frantically searched for a mask for her child to wear on the plane. “I’m flying back to the UK tomorrow night with my daughter to escape this virus madness,” she said in a local chat group for mums. Others commented on the thread that they too were leaving.

Anxious Hongkongers are looking to beat multiplying border restrictions, such as Taiwan’s 14-day quarantine for anyone arriving from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.

And although Cathay might have boosted flights to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York from 11 to 14 a week, and doubled flights to Vancouver to 14 a week in February, the carrier and its, Cathay Dragon, have cancelled more than half of their flights this month and March amid the outbreak. Elsewhere, United Airlines said it will suspend all flights to and from Hong Kong through February 20.

“I just left on the last flight out of Hong Kong that United Airlines is allowing … will most likely return when United Airlines allows flights back,” Derek Chapman said in a chat group for expats in Hong Kong on Friday, February 7.

The Hong Kong government’s decision to close all schools and kindergartens to help contain the spread of the deadly virus has also given the exodus a fillip.

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Hongkongers and residents fleeing Covid-19 outbreak confronted with hard decisions about jobs, children’s schooling

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} Government’s decision to close all schools to help contain the outbreak gives exodus a fillip Illness threatens city’s ability to keep and attract talent

Government’s decision to close all schools to help contain the outbreak gives exodus a fillip

Illness threatens city’s ability to keep and attract talent