China coronavirus: Hong Kong scraps major Lunar New Year celebrations and extends health declaration requirements as it tightens monitoring of deadly infection
- Cathay Pacific International Chinese New Year Carnival and Lunar New Year Cup axed
- Passengers arriving via high-speed rail will now have to fill out health form and provide contact details
Hong Kong has tightened monitoring of the Wuhan coronavirus, extending health declaration requirements to high-speed rail passengers and scrapping two major Lunar New Year events as the number of reported suspected cases in the city rose to 135.
On Thursday, the government announced the cancellation of the Cathay Pacific International Chinese New Year Carnival, as well as the Lunar New Year Cup, an annual football tournament which had been due to take place on Sunday.
“It’s not appropriate to have crowds of people gathering together, and the organisers agreed,” acting chief executive Matthew Cheung Kin-chung said.
The HK$42 million carnival, which was organised by the Hong Kong Tourism Board, was meant to replace the annual Lunar New Year night parade, but that was deemed “too risky” amid the ongoing anti-government protests.
Earlier, Cathay Pacific announced all Cathay Dragon flights from and to the mainland Chinese city, which has been locked down along with Huanggang and Ezhou, would be suspended until February 29. The MTR Corporation also said it would stop selling high-speed train tickets to and from Wuhan, where the outbreak began.