Coronavirus: ex-flight attendants alleged to have broken Hong Kong’s self-isolation rules while infected

Two former Cathay Pacific flight attendants alleged to have breached Covid-19 quarantine rules in Hong Kong while infected with the coronavirus insisted on Tuesday that visits to friends and going out to dinner were allowed during self-isolation periods.

Wong Yoon-loong, 45, told Eastern Court that meeting a friend and giving him a Christmas gift were “necessary activities” permitted under the law while he was in self-isolation at home in December last year, the start of Hong Kong’s coronavirus fifth wave.

Co-accused Nilsson Lau Kok-wang, 44, said walking a friend to a bus stop and having lunch with his own family were essential and claimed there were no objective criteria for deciding what was necessary.

The two, who were later found to be infected with the highly infectious Omicron variant at the time, on Monday denied a total of three counts of failure to stick to conditions specified by health officials.

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The ex-employees of the city’s flagship carrier were subject to medical surveillance for three weeks after they returned from the United States for the Christmas holidays.

The court heard they were told to stay at home until they had a clear coronavirus test result on the third day after arrival. The only exceptions were to carry out “necessary activities”, such as going to test centres.

But the defendants were said to have left their homes for non-essential activities while infected with the coronavirus.

Wong, who tested positive on December 27, left his flat in Shek Tong Tsui to deliver a Christmas present to Lau at the latter’s home in Tuen Mun less than a day after he was ordered to self-isolate in the early hours of December 25.

Lau accompanied Wong to a bus stop that afternoon, before he visited Tuen Mun Town Plaza to collect a parcel for his flat’s renovation works.

Lau, who tested positive on December 28, went out again two days later when he had lunch with his family at the Moon Palace restaurant in Kowloon Tong’s Festival Walk shopping centre.

He later told police the purpose of the meeting was to give a mobile phone to his father.

Wong told the court that Lau had comforted him after he encountered difficulties during the pandemic and that it was important to him to give Lau a present on Christmas Day and thank him in person.

But he later clarified he had only intended to “drop by” at Lau’s home as he went out to buy lunch.

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Prosecutor Simon Kwong Cho-yan questioned the need for the trip from Hong Kong Island to the northwest New Territories.

“Under the medical surveillance requirement, you had to remain at home, so you were sure that visiting friends were prohibited until there was a PCR test result on the third day,” Kwong told Wong.

“I disagree, because, in the list of necessary activities, it did not specify that visiting friends was not among them”, Wong insisted.

Lau told the court he did not break the law as it did not specifically rule out walking a friend to a bus stop or meeting his father in a restaurant.

“What is considered necessary activities depends on the individual you ask. Nobody can put themselves completely in others’ shoes,” Lau said.

Magistrate Edward Wong Ching-yu adjourned the case until August 26 for closing submissions.