Letters | China coronavirus: Hong Kong government falling behind Macau in handling public health crisis
- Hongkongers returning from the mainland must quarantine themselves while the government should track down people who have come in from Hubei province
- The government must also ensure the supply of masks and hand sanitiser
This, together with earlier measures announced by the central government stopping tours to Hong Kong, would vastly reduce the number of mainland visitors entering the city, to around 20 per cent of the usual number who visit every day.
Leaving some border checkpoints open to a certain extent would allow Hong Kong residents who had travelled to the mainland to return to Hong Kong. Let’s not forget the enormous number – possibly hundreds of thousands – of Hong Kong people returning from the mainland after the Lunar New Year holiday. If no appropriate measures are taken, these people could well be a source of the spread of the virus in Hong Kong.
Indeed, to it play safe, the government ought to openly encourage every single Hong Kong resident who had travelled to the mainland and returned to Hong Kong lately to quarantine themselves.