Three men were sentenced to prison on Monday for defying home quarantine orders, in the first batch of prosecutions in Hong Kong since the novel coronavirus outbreak.
Welcoming the judgments, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government and a lawmaker said the deterrent sentences sent a clear message to society that zero tolerance will be shown to people who breach quarantine orders.
Sing Kin Kung-kai, 30, was the first in the city to be tried and convicted over breaching home quarantine orders. He provided a fake home address for his quarantine to a registered nurse after arriving at Shenzhen Bay Port on March 8. He was convicted of “giving false information to an authorized officer” and sentenced to three months in prison.
On March 10, he was found to have attempted to travel to the Chinese mainland via the Shenzhen Bay Port, when he was supposed to be in a 14-day home quarantine.
In passing the sentence at the Fanling Magistrates’ Courts, magistrate So Man-lung criticized Sing’s actions as “selfish” as he disregarded the safety of other people and undermined efforts to contain the outbreak.
The other two offenders were sentenced to imprisonment for “contravention to restrictions during quarantine” at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts on Monday.
Wong Yee-keung, 41, was sentenced to six weeks in prison, after being caught attempting to leave the city via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge on Feb 13. His home quarantine had been scheduled to end on Feb 23. Wong said he found quarantine “boring” and wanted to “have fun” on the mainland.
The other convicted person, Xie Yong-yu, 37, whose mandatory home quarantine had been scheduled to end on Feb 23, was apprehended while attempting to leave Hong Kong via Shenzhen Bay Port on Feb 12. He said he was going to visit his sick mother on the mainland. He was sentenced to 10 days in prison.
Magistrate Peter Law Tak-chuen said Wong and Xie had undermined medical employees’ efforts to safeguard the health of the community for their own selfish desires. Law urged the public to work with the government to fight the coronavirus.
In a statement, the government reiterates that compliance with quarantine orders is “of paramount importance” in Hong Kong’s fight against COVID-19.
To cope with imported COVID-19 cases, the Hong Kong government, since Feb 8, has ordered all arrivals from the mainland to be quarantined for 14 days.
On March 19, the quarantine order extended to all arrivals.
Hong Kong lawmaker and barrister Priscilla Leung Mei-fun said that the first few cases should result in tough punishments to serve as a warning to people to follow public health regulations. She noted that many people in society like to take chances, thinking they will not get caught. These people should learn from the arrests and trials and realize the authorities are determined to enforce the law, she added.
