Source:
https://scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3084724/coronavirus-hong-kong-pledges-review-quarantine Health & Environment
Coronavirus: Hong Kong pledges to review quarantine measures for returnees from South Africa after envoy complains policy could be seen as discriminatory
- Rejecting claims of discrimination, Hong Kong government says current arrangements are prudent and were adopted for sake of public health
- South African consul questioned why arrivals from Britain and the US, countries hit hard by Covid-19, were allowed to quarantine at home
Health workers take a break during an anti-coronavirus drive in Johannesburg. Photo: AP
Hong Kong officials have promised to review coronavirus-related quarantine arrangements for returnees from South Africa, after the country’s top diplomat in the city complained that making them stay in government camps rather than at home may be discriminatory.
Rejecting claims of discrimination, the Hong Kong government said the arrangements were prudent and adopted for the sake of public health and that it had assessed risk factors such as infection trends and surveillance capability.
But the government would review the situation, a spokesman pledged.
South Africa had seen a rising trend in infections and carried out about 7,300 coronavirus tests per million population, compared with roughly 24,500 in Hong Kong and around 32,000 in both Britain and the United States.
“We will closely monitor the situation locally and overseas, and will review the arrangement as we gain more understanding about the test findings of recent returnees from South Africa,” the spokesman said.
Madoda Ntshinga, Pretoria’s consul general to Hong Kong and Macau, had said the quarantine policy could be seen as discriminatory, when arrivals from Britain and the US, which had both struggled to contain the coronavirus, were allowed to serve out their 14-day period of isolation at home.
South Africa reported a record 785 new cases on Friday, bringing its total to 13,524.
Most of Hong Kong’s 1,052 confirmed cases were imported, with 405 linked to Britain and 85 to the United States. The US has the highest infection count globally with Britain in third place.
Of an estimated 200 Hongkongers stuck in South Africa, the first group of three dozen returned on Thursday and were taken to a government quarantine camp.
But some complained about filthy conditions and a lack of proper facilities for children. Some were angered by being housed near suspected Covid-19 cases.
Madoda Ntshinga said the quarantine policy could be seen as discriminatory. Photo: Twitter
Among those quarantined was Canadian Colin Embree, who was sent to Pat Heung with his South African wife and young son after arriving via Doha.
“I am quite prepared to be quarantined and even in the government facility if that is what the rules are. But singling us out and letting others go, that to me does not match up to be a risk-based policy,” said the 51-year-old, who has lived in Hong Kong for 5½ years.
“And a risk-based policy is what is going to maintain Hong Kong’s good bill of health.”
For those still in lockdown in South Africa, attempts to get back to Hong Kong met obstacles, as they would need to get permits to drive to Johannesburg to take a commercial flight to Doha.
Pilot and permanent resident Dirk Grobler, 50, said he sought and failed on multiple occasions to get help from Hong Kong’s Immigration Department.
He said embassies were required to submit a request to South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) to get permission for their citizens to leave.
“Hong Kong Immigration has provided no assistance in obtaining approval from Dirco to exit the country,” Grobler said. “My wife is Czech, her embassy would go to Dirco to request for their citizen to be allowed out. And the same for South African friends with Dutch and Mauritian residency.”
Another commercial pilot, Hayley Rabe, 31, was last week denied permission to leave with her 17-month daughter to return to Hong Kong, where she has worked for six years.
Once she got permission she would get tested for Covid-19, she said.
“I’ll have peace of mind that I’m not exposing the people I’m travelling with [to the virus]. I will only travel if I am negative. And then if I get to Hong Kong and I test negative, it begs the question, why won’t they let me go home?” she said.
A spokesman for the Immigration Department said it had contacted the office of the foreign ministry’s commissioner in Hong Kong, the South African consulate and Chinese embassy in Pretoria to understand the situation, after receiving requests for help from stranded Hongkongers.
It added it had also directly contacted the residents concerned and was actively liaising with airlines to try to book flights for those stranded.
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