Coronavirus: Hongkongers in outbreak epicentre running low on medicine, masks and food, but government has no plans for flights out while lockdown continues

The official assessment, according to two political sources, was that the government could not effectively gather more than 2,000 Hongkongers scattered across Hubei, and even if it managed to get them home there were not enough places to put the returnees in quarantine for 14 days.

“There are practical difficulties and also a potential backlash from society if a chartered flight was arranged to bring them back to Hong Kong,” said one of the sources with knowledge of the situation, noting that Hong Kong residents had protested against quarantine facilities being set up in their neighbourhood.

Businessman Joe Chan, his wife and their 10-year-old daughter are among those made to wait it out in Hubei, where cities including Wuhan, the centre of the outbreak, have been put under a complete lockdown for more than two weeks.

The 50-year-old brought his family back to his wife’s hometown Tianmen, a two-hour drive from Wuhan, on January 20. After Wuhan was locked down on January 23, the high-speed rail service from Tianmen to Shenzhen was also halted, making it impossible for the family to leave.

There have been more than 37,000 confirmed cases of the virus on the mainland, and over 800 deaths.

Hong Kong on Sunday confirmed 10 more cases of coronavirus infection, taking the total tally to 36.