Coronavirus: rescue flights for more than 500 Hongkongers in outbreak’s epicentre

Hundreds of Hong Kong residents stuck in the centre of the coronavirus outbreak in mainland China are due to board the first flights home on Wednesday afternoon – but thousands of others trapped across Hubei province are still desperately waiting for details about when they can fly.

Hong Kong’s leader, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, announced on Tuesday that two flights would arrive in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, on Wednesday, and another two on Thursday to bring 533 residents home.

But even after the evacuation, about 3,200 Hongkongers will remain in the province – among them a woman 10-weeks pregnant, a family with a nine-month-old baby and people suffering health problems who are running out of medication.

Speaking before her Executive Council meeting on Tuesday morning, Lam said the government had acted as quickly as possible to bring residents home.

Asked whether her administration owed the stranded Hongkongers an apology for the delay, she said: “We don’t feel we have delayed the return of Hong Kong people stranded in Hubei … as soon as the conditions were ready for us to help them to come back to Hong Kong, we immediately made the arrangement to do so, with the support of the Hubei provincial government.”

But the governments of more than a dozen other countries, including Singapore, Britain and Canada, have already brought their citizens back home.

Lam said Hong Kong’s mainland affairs minister Patrick Nip Tak-kuen and immigration chief Erick Tsang Kwok-wai would go to Wuhan to oversee the return of the first group of residents. With 3,800 Hongkongers stuck in more than 30 cities across Hubei, additional operations are expected later.

Lam said 440 in the first group to return were located in Wuhan, while the rest were in other cities in the province.

Nip said they included 14 pregnant women, 11 students taking exams for their Diploma of Secondary Education and 22 people with medical conditions in need of treatment.

Anyone confirmed with the virus or who had been in close contact with an infected patient would not be permitted to board, he said.

Historic border checkpoint sparks fears of quarantine loophole

The outbreak of the virus – which causes the deadly illness Covid-19 – is thought to have started in late 2019 at a market in Wuhan before it spread to countries across the world. By Tuesday, the virus had infected more than 80,000 people on the mainland, killing nearly 3,000. In Hong Kong, it has infected 100 people, with two related fatalities.

Since January 23, Wuhan and most other cities in Hubei have been placed in lock down in an attempt to contain the pathogen’s spread. The measures include suspension of public transport and security checkpoints on major roads, to stop people from leaving.

Nip said passengers would have their temperatures checked four times during the journey, and once more upon arrival. They will be sent to Chun Yeung Estate in Fo Tan for a 14-day quarantine.

Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee said at least two doctors and two nurses would accompany passengers on each flight, and passengers must wear masks and protective clothing to lower the risk of infection. They have been instructed to wash thoroughly before the trip and specially arranged vehicles would take them to the airport.

Lawmaker Elizabeth Quat, from the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, said about 210 Hongkongers were stuck in Yichang, about 350km west of Wuhan, and another 210 were trapped in Enshi, about 200km farther west.

Quat and the Federation of Trade Unions (FTU), which has been helping the stranded residents, urged the Hong Kong government to arrange chartered flights to two additional cities.

At an FTU briefing on Tuesday, a Hongkonger stuck in Enshi described his plight through video conferencing, saying his wife was 10 weeks pregnant but they were not selected for the first flights.

“I hope the Hong Kong government can send my family back to Hong Kong as soon as possible so my wife can see the doctors. There was blood in her urine today and it was quite a lot. I did not know what was happening,” the man surnamed Lam said.

His eight-year-old daughter has favism, a type of anaemia, and her supply of medication was exhausted.

A woman trapped in Xiaogan, just north of Wuhan, said her nine-month-old child had symptoms of fever, but she dared not go to hospital. She had asked the Hong Kong government to send baby milk formula and diapers, but nothing had arrived.

“I just want to get out of here,” the woman surnamed Leung said, but she had not received any word on when she could leave.

Even some who had already received an invitation for a flight remained anxious. Pang Kong-cheung, 68, heard from the Hong Kong government’s Wuhan office two weeks ago that he and his 64-year-old wife had qualified but they had not received any update since.

“I am worried. If I am among the first group of people who can take the chartered flights home, I am supposed to be leaving on Wednesday or Thursday. But I still have not received the details yet,” he said over the phone from Wuhan.

“There shouldn’t be a problem. Maybe it’s just taking some time [for the government to inform everyone of the details].”

Pang takes medication for high blood pressure but would run out in two weeks. He has been barred from leaving his estate and must have all his food delivered.

A 19-year-old scheduled to sit university entrance exams this month was on Monday informed by the mainland government he would be departing either on Wednesday or Thursday.

But the student, who asked not to be named, had yet to receive details of the arrangements, including how he would get to the airport or when the flight left.

His biggest concern was being unprepared for his first chemistry exam on March 28. Studying was difficult because he did not have his textbooks with him.

“It has been very difficult for me to do my revision,” said the student, who moved from Wuhan to Hong Kong with his family more than three years ago. “I don’t want to take the exams this month.”

He hoped the tests could be postponed so he would have more time to prepare.