Coronavirus: number of infected Hongkongers aboard Diamond Princess more than doubles as others consider evacuation snub because of quarantine plan

The number of Hongkongers infected with the deadly coronavirus aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship docked off Yokohama more than doubled on Tuesday, leaping from 21 to 50, the government has confirmed.

Official figures showed that of the 3,700 passengers and crew on board, 542 had tested positive for the virus, which causes the Covid-19 disease, after 88 new cases were confirmed on Tuesday.

But one woman stuck on the cruise liner said up to 100 of her fellow Hong Kong passengers had doubts about boarding the government-arranged flights home, despite the city leader warning they would end up in the same virus quarantine facilities even if they flew commercially.

Some of those said they feared being housed in an area hit by coronavirus protests after Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said on Tuesday they would be placed in mandatory 14-day quarantine at Chun Yeung Estate in Fo Tan when repatriated from Japan on two chartered Cathay Pacific flights on Thursday.

Lam said the estate was the only site available for holding the 350 Hongkongers, who have been unable to leave the cruise ship docked off Japan’s coast since February 4 because of the emergence on board of the deadly coronavirus.

Existing quarantine centres of around 150 units were almost full, while other potential sites would not be ready before the end of the month, the city leader said.

Returning residents will be housed in sparsely furnished accommodation in the newly built public housing, although folding tables, bathroom heaters, fans and electric kettles have been brought into some of the flats, according to photographs shared with the Post by Sha Tin District councillor Ken Mak Tsz-kin.

Yardley Wong, from Hong Kong, who was stranded with her parents and her six-year-old son on the cruise, said she had already told immigration officers her family would not board the flights.

She said up to 100 passengers had expressed in a WhatsApp group that they did not want to take the chartered flights.

Some did not believe the mandatory 14-day quarantine was necessary because they had already been isolated in their cruise cabins for nearly two weeks. Others were reluctant to be placed on a site where protests were likely to break out.

“They will put traumatised people – including children – in the middle of a controversial situation where there's a possibility of riots and petrol bombs being thrown,” Wong said.

But Lam warned on Tuesday that any passengers who refused to board the government-arranged flights would be put on a watch list and might have difficulty catching a commercial flight home.

Even if they did, they would still be placed in the same facility in Fo Tan, she added.

“Upon arrival at the Hong Kong International Airport, they will be stopped by the Immigration Department,” Lam said. “They will end up in the same situation.”

David Yeung Kun-wah, 70, said he and his wife would board the flight but criticised the Hong Kong government for imposing another 14 days of quarantine on its residents, a move similar to the action taken by the United States and Canadian governments.

“The [US and Canada] chartered flights took passengers without knowing their test results, but Hong Kong immigration will only carry passengers who have cleared the virus test,” he said. “The additional quarantine requirement is unnecessary.”

Director of Immigration Erick Tsang Kwok-wai, who was in Japan on Tuesday to finalise the evacuation arrangements, said if the Japanese government could not complete all the coronavirus tests on the Hongkongers, some might have to stay behind for a short period.

Under that scenario, he said he did not rule out the possibility of chartering another flight. The first group of Hongkongers was expected to leave Japan in the early hours of Thursday, he added.

Sonny Au Chi-kwong, the undersecretary for security who is also in Japan, said officials from the country’s ministry of health, labour and welfare did not show up at a scheduled meeting on Tuesday.

This has complicated the Hong Kong government’s evacuation plans because that department was in charge of testing the Hongkongers, he added.

10 more Hongkongers on cruise infected, bringing total to 21

The city leader said before her weekly Executive Council meeting on Tuesday that quarantine measures were necessary because returning passengers would pose a health risk to the public.

One of the city’s top microbiologists, Dr Ho Pak-leung, of the University of Hong Kong, has also said that about 100 of the 350 Hongkongers returning from Japan would have been infected.

Riot police were seen patrolling outside Chun Yeung Estate in Fo Tan on Tuesday, while roadblocks were set on one of the major roads leading to the residential buildings.

Lam said: “We cannot afford this centre to be vandalised or destroyed by rioters,” she said. “We will do all we can to protect this estate.”

Fo Tan residents have previously objected to the new public rental housing estate being designated a quarantine centre, as have those waiting for one of the 4,846 flats, 4,000 of which have already been allocated.

Hundreds protest against quarantine sites in five locations

When asked if the government could cope with a potentially large influx of new cases from the arrival of the cruise passengers, food and health undersecretary Chui Tak-yi said the evacuation plan was protected by a “double safeguard”.

After the passengers passed an initial virus test by the Japanese authorities, they would have to undergo a second health check by the Hong Kong government before boarding the chartered flight, he said.

Additional reporting by Christopher Johnson and Brian Wong