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The roads were clear on the Shenzhen Bay Bridge, one of the few border crossings with the mainland still open, on the day the new quarantine system kicked in. Photo: Felix Wong

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.

A trickle of passengers pass through the Shenzhen Bay Port from Hong Kong to mainland China. Photo: Felix Wong

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.

A positive reading was said to have been recorded in a preliminary test of a young male patient at Ruttonjee Hospital in Wan Chai.

He had not been to the outbreak’s epicentre of Wuhan but had shared a hotpot with about 20 relatives from Hong Kong and mainland China. His parents had been hospitalised, sources said.

The United States embassy confirmed that a US citizen had died in Wuhan from the virus, in what appeared to be the first confirmed foreign death from the outbreak, while a Japanese man also in the Hubei provincial capital died from viral pneumonia.

Civil servants ‘assigned’ Hong Kong quarantine tasks despite voluntary pledge

Lam, who had on Wednesday announced the new measures – which require anyone entering the city from mainland China to be quarantined for 14 days – made a brief visit to the deserted Shenzhen Bay Port on Saturday afternoon but did not speak to media on site.

At a later press conference, she said only 807 new arrivals had entered the city via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge or Shenzhen Bay, both of which are linked to the mainland.

“Many came from Macau, so they were not affected [by the measures],” Lam said.

Carrie Lam visited the Shenzhen Bay Port on Saturday before giving a press conference in which she tried to reassure Hongkongers that more masks were on their way. Photo: Felix Wong

By 4pm, 161 people, including 143 locals, had been issued with quarantine orders. Lam said 148 were confined to their own home, 11 stayed at hotels and two were transported to government facilities.

Apart from calling those under quarantine, officers might also ask people to share their real-time location via their mobile phones, Lam added. The police force checked 10 homes, Lam said, adding: “But what is most important is that those under quarantine are cooperative and self-disciplined.”

Lam also revealed the government had bought 48 million masks from overseas and would receive 17 million more from the mainland as it scrambled to address shortages, while admitting it was down to its last month’s supply. Public hospitals in the city were also reported to be down to a month’s supply.

Lam said staff and volunteers working in the Correctional Service Department’s factory in Lo Wu would boost output from 1.8 million masks a month to 2.5 million and that the surplus would be made available for free to the city’s outsourced cleaners.

For some, the new quarantine measures caused confusion and inconvenience.

At Shenzhen Bay Port on Saturday morning, one Hong Kong resident, who gave his name as Tang, learned about the new measures too late as he had already entered the restricted zone.

Tang, 70, told immigration officers he wanted to turn back but they told him it was too late. “I said I didn’t want to cross the border any more, but they said I must,” he said.

Tang returned to Hong Kong a couple of hours later and was put under quarantine. He was given a copy of his quarantine order as well as handouts about health and hygiene tips.

Under the scheme, locals will be confined to their homes for 14 days, while non-locals will stay at hotels or the government’s quarantine centres.

Those violating the order face a maximum fine of HK$25,000 (US$3,220), six months in jail, or both.

A 55-year-old media worker, surnamed Cheung, returned from Shenzhen on Saturday.

He was told to monitor his body temperature and that government officers could conduct random spot checks at his home. “I will ask my family to buy me food and I’ll stay home,” he said.

Government down to its last month’s supply of masks, Lam says

Cheung described the latest policy as “neither here nor there”. “They should have just closed down all the ports,” he said.

A 79-year-old Shanghai resident with a permit to stay in Hong Kong for two weeks that is valid for three months explained that she made a round trip to mainland China to renew her stay in the city.

The woman, who declined to be named, said the authorities should scrap the two-week stay limit so she would not have to cross the border frequently.

“It increases my chances of being infected or spreading the disease,” she said, adding she stayed in Hong Kong to take care of her older sister, who had undergone surgery.

Dozens were also seen leaving the city via the port, including a cross-border couple in their 30s.

The man, a Hong Kong resident who wished not to be named, said his wife was from Huizhou and had to return to the mainland as her permit to stay in the city expired on Saturday.

He said it was likely to be the last time he would see his wife for a few months.

“Before the epidemic passes, I don’t think they will issue the permit again,” he said.

“What can you do? This is what being a Hong Kong-mainland couple is like.”

On Friday, almost 96,000 people entered Hong Kong, including 76,899 locals and 12,746 mainland Chinese visitors.

Additional reporting by Zoe Low and Victor Ting

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: hk influx slows to trickle
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