A special team has been sent to Japan to bring back Hong Kong residents on board the Diamond Princess cruise. Secretary for Security John Lee Ka-chiu (right) sees them off on Monday at the Hong Kong airport. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
Medical experts in the city said it will be necessary to quarantine the 350 Hong Kong residents who have been stranded aboard a quarantined cruise ship in Japan after the residents arrive in Hong Kong on Thursday.
The remarks came hours after Security Secretary John Lee Ka-chiu said on Monday afternoon that two chartered flights will bring home the Hong Kong residents now on board the Diamond Princess cruise liner at Yokohama.
The flights are scheduled to leave Hong Kong International Airport on Wednesday and return with the residents on Thursday. The evacuees will be sent to quarantine camps for 14 days once they arrive in the city, Lee said.
Those confirmed in Japan to be infected and those who fail to pass temperature checks before boarding the flights will have to stay in Japan for treatment, he added.
Some questioned the need for another quarantine, as the evacuated Hong Kong passengers have already been quarantined for 11 days. But medical experts stressed that the move is necessary to fend off the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Leung Chi-chiu, a doctor of the respiratory system and chairman of the Advisory Committee on Communicable Diseases under the Hong Kong Medical Association, said it is “absolutely necessary” for the evacuees to be held in quarantine centers for another 14 days.
Citing the news that 14 passengers aboard US evacuation flight have tested positive, the expert warned that it was possible that infection cases had been missed.
As of Monday afternoon, the number of infections on the ship had risen by 99 to 454, including at least 21 Hong Kong residents.
Leung warned that the cruise ship is severely contaminated and has turned into a hotbed of the coronavirus, indicating a high rate of infection on the vessel.
“I would think it is absolutely necessary for the government to quarantine those disembarked for another two weeks to limit the spread,” he said.
David Hui Shu-cheong, Chinese University respiratory-diseases expert, also said that those who will be flown back from the cruise ship should be held for a further 14-day quarantine.
Even those who do not have symptoms should also be quarantined, he told local radio on Monday. Hui added that they are still a public health risk because the cruise ship is contaminated.
Hui said those evacuated should also wear face masks during the flight, and it is safer to send them to quarantine centers rather than home isolation due to higher public health risks of the latter option.
According to Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Secretary Patrick Nip Tak-kuen, the city has about 150 units in four quarantine centers, nearly 90 percent of which are occupied. A local report on Feb 3 quoted the Food and Health Bureau as saying that a total of 300 mobile units were being built at four quarantine sites.
