Hong Kong must brace for coronavirus quarantine crunch in coming months

Name: Taiwan airport offers flights to ‘nowhere’ for passengers stuck at home during Covid-19 pandemic
Uploaded: 2020-07-05T00:00:11.000Z
Duration: 1 min 56 s
Description: Taiwan airport offers flights to ‘nowhere’ for passengers stuck at home during Covid-19 pandemic

Public health experts warn of insufficient isolation facilities as thousands of city residents are expected to return home from high-risk countries

Many others have already made their way back independently rather than wait for a chartered flight, official data shows

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Quarantine facilities are under construction at Penny’s Bay on Lantau Island. Photo: Martin Chan

Elizabeth Cheung

Published: 8:00am, 5 Jul 2020Updated: 7:27pm, 3 Aug 2020

Thousands of Hong Kong residents are expected to return to the city in the coming months from countries deemed to have a higher Covid-19 risk. Many have already made their way back independently rather than wait for a chartered flight, official data shows.

The return of people from higher-risk countries such as Pakistan and India, along with the entry of about 12,000 domestic helpers and at least 10,000 overseas university students in the next few months, sparked warnings from public health experts that the significant increase in demand for quarantine facilities would be a test for the city.

Whether Hong Kong can cope with a new wave of infections has become a concern with a rise in imported cases and the easing of lockdown measures in more countries. That comes as the city’s major quarantine facility – a public estate in Sha Tin – ceases operations by the end of this month.

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Taiwan airport offers flights to ‘nowhere’ for passengers stuck at home during Covid-19 pandemic

An examination of official statistics by the Post found that 97 per cent of 112 confirmed cases with a travel history to Pakistan did not return by chartered flight. For those from India, more than 80 per cent – 47 out of 53 cases – did not use chartered flights arranged by the government.

A government adviser on the pandemic was worried that local quarantine facilities would not be able to cope if the flow of inbound travellers from high-risk areas was not controlled.

“We can’t allow an unlimited number of people to come in, as we won’t be able to cope and place all of them in quarantine centres,” said Professor David Hui Shu-cheong, a respiratory medicine expert from Chinese University.

Hui said the government could limit arrivals by bringing them in via chartered flights or cutting the number of flights.

“The number of places in quarantine facilities needs to be factored in, then we will be able to cope with those arrivals,” he said.