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As Beijing, Hong Kong face second coronavirus onslaught, quarantine gets serious
- Restrictions on arrivals from overseas are toughened in a bid to hold back a second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic
- China is now reporting more imported new cases than domestic infections
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Beijing and Hong Kong are toughening up their 14-day quarantine restrictions as a second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic returns to China, brought by homecoming citizens and visitors from overseas and threatening to push up infection rates that had been coming under control.
“If we do not impose tougher measures at this stage, our previous efforts to prevent the disease from spreading throughout these two months could be completely wasted,” Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said on Tuesday.
For the past five days, China has reported more imported cases than local infections, with the mainland reporting zero domestic cases on Thursday for the first time since the outbreak began. There were 34 new infections, all from overseas.
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Hong Kong saw 25 new cases on Wednesday, the highest single-day increase, with most of them coming from outside the special administrative region.
Beijing, Hong Kong and Macau have all responded with tighter and expanded rules on quarantine, or self-isolation, for arrivals.
A week ago Beijing announced all arrivals to the capital must self-isolate at home or in a designated hotel or hostel for 14 days. A few days later, the rules were tightened again, to remove the option of staying at home, and requiring quarantined arrivals to pay their accommodation costs.
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