Residents of luxury Hong Kong housing block question legal grounds for government quarantine order after helper found with mutant strain

One resident maintains the quarantine arrangement for the building is ‘not consistent with existing protocols’

In a lawyer’s letter to the Department of Health, two families demand their isolation orders in writing, or say they ‘will see quarantine as false imprisonment’

Reading Time:4 minutes

99+

A general view of 8 Kennedy Terrace, where around 50 people were ordered into quarantine. Photo: Google Maps

Published: 10:28pm, 27 Apr 2021Updated: 2:40pm, 28 Apr 2021

Residents of a luxury housing block in Hong Kong have challenged the legal grounds for a 21-day quarantine at government facilities imposed on them after a domestic helper from their building was found to be infected with a mutant strain of the coronavirus.

Some in the group even sent lawyers’ letters to the Department of Health, arguing the move could amount to “false imprisonment” if authorities could not legally justify their actions.

The helper was discharged from hospital and sent to quarantine on Tuesday afternoon, while about 50 people from 10 families living at 8 Kennedy Terrace remained in isolation at government facilities in Penny’s Bay or Lei Yue Mun, according to one resident who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“We are not asking for special treatment, but the quarantine arrangement for us is not consistent with existing protocols,” he said, referring to the standard 14-day isolation period for close contacts.

“We can sacrifice for the safety of the whole city, but we don’t want to make unnecessary sacrifices.”

A view of the Penny’s Bay quarantine centre, where some of the residents of the Kennedy Terrace building are in isolation. Photo: Dickson Lee

The man said his building had a low risk of transmission because residents shared few common areas and the block had three lifts. Two of those were for residents and one was a service elevator which some domestic helpers usually used, although they were not barred from using the other lifts, he later added.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x

Residents of luxury Hong Kong housing block question legal grounds for government quarantine order after helper found with mutant strain

One resident maintains the quarantine arrangement for the building is ‘not consistent with existing protocols’ In a lawyer’s letter to the Department of Health, two families demand their isolation orders in writing, or say they ‘will see quarantine as false imprisonment’

One resident maintains the quarantine arrangement for the building is ‘not consistent with existing protocols’

In a lawyer’s letter to the Department of Health, two families demand their isolation orders in writing, or say they ‘will see quarantine as false imprisonment’