Coronavirus: quarantine measures ‘drastically reduce’ number of people entering Hong Kong, with city’s infected tally likely to hit 27
- It comes as Hong Kong records another positive reading of the virus, which if confirmed will bring the city’s total to 27
- Carrie Lam says more masks are on their way with supplies just weeks away from running out
The number of people entering Hong Kong fell sharply on Saturday as a 14-day mandatory quarantine scheme to tackle the deadly coronavirus took effect, while the city’s leader reassured the public more masks were on their way despite revealing the government was down to its last month’s supply.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said the quarantine measures had “drastically reduced” cross-border traffic, on the day Hong Kong recorded another positive reading of the virus, which if confirmed would bring the city’s total to 27.
As of 4pm on Saturday, close to 9,000 travellers had entered the city after the new restrictions came into force, of whom only 125 had used the Shenzhen Bay Port.
The previous day, 60,000 had entered via the same route in a frantic last-minute dash to get in before implementation. A total of 161 people were issued with confinement orders on the first day.
It came as the coronavirus’ death toll of 724 hurtled ever closer to that of the 2003 Sars epidemic, with 86 new fatalities reported on Friday and the total number of cases reaching almost 35,000.
The number of confirmed Hong Kong cases of the virus, which has killed one person in the city, was poised to rise to 27, sources told the Post late on Saturday.