Coronavirus: three more Hong Kong housing blocks face inspection after Tsing Yi evacuation but officials call for calm and insist this is ‘no Amoy Gardens’
- Leading infectious disease expert says Hong Kong already in containment phase and in a much better situation than during Sars
- City leader also calls for calm but reiterates that those who flout mandatory quarantine measures will face criminal liability
Hong Kong authorities will conduct inspections at three other public housing blocks after four residents from a high-rise building in Tsing Yi and a close contact were confirmed to be infected with the deadly coronavirus, prompting a partial evacuation.
But officials urged the public not to panic, and experts said the city was not facing a large-scale community outbreak as feared, even as the number of confirmed cases rose to 49 on Tuesday.
A leading infectious disease expert said Hong Kong was now in a containment phase, even if more cases were being reported, and the city was in a much better situation than during the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) epidemic of 2002-03.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, under fire for her government’s handling of the crisis and facing difficulties enforcing quarantine orders on people exposed to the coronavirus, warned that absconders would be subject to criminal liability.
But the city’s embattled leader also appealed for unity, saying: “In order to fight this virus, Hong Kong needs the full cooperation and active participation of every member of society. This is a time for social cohesion. This is a time for every one of us to display civic responsibility.”
Lam said 2,196 people, 91 per cent of whom were local residents, had been quarantined since last Saturday when the government began requiring anyone coming in from mainland China to undergo two weeks of confinement.