Letters | Coronavirus: Hong Kong unfairly targeting South African returnees for quarantine

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Travellers sit socially distanced while watching a video about saliva sampling in a coronavirus testing facility at the AsiaWorld-Expo in Hong Kong. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 7:45am, 21 May 2020Updated: 7:45am, 21 May 2020

It is amazing that the Hong Kong government is now also requiring residents returning from South Africa to stay in quarantine camps.

South Africa did a complete lockdown, and because of that, it has reported 17,200 cases but only 312 deaths. Yet, Hong Kong residents returning from Europe, which has massive Covid-19 numbers, are allowed to self-isolate.

Let’s look at who Hong Kong is targeting with this: India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and now South Africa. What strikes you about these countries being singled out? It couldn’t be racism, could it?

The Post reported on the reaction of the South African consul general, who noted the success of the country’s response to the virus, but the Hong Kong government still allows this treatment of South Africans.

If they are going to insist on this policy, then at least they should put people up in decent (I don’t mean luxury) accommodation. Picture arriving with your wife and three young children and being put in a filthy room (just one room) with single wire-frame beds with 1.5-inch thick mattress. No going out, no ordering food (just eat what you are given), no internet, no TV, no alcohol. Just sit around doing nothing. How do you think your mental health would hold up?

Charles M. Yeomans, Happy Valley