The SAR government added the United States, the United Kingdom and Ireland to its list of COVID-19 red-alert countries on Sunday night, subjecting all those who have been to any of the three countries in the past 14 days to a two-week isolation upon entering Hong Kong from Thursday on. The decision was rightly made in response to the cold fact that the novel coronavirus pandemic is spreading around the world.
With signs of the pandemic running amok around the world, no one should be surprised to see the list of red-alert countries grow in the near future. That is a strong enough reason for Hong Kong residents to cancel all unnecessary overseas travel plans for now. This might sound like a cliche, but it is always better to err on the side of caution. Indeed, the risk of contracting the virus abroad is now much higher than getting infected locally. The city reported seven more confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, all of the patients having been abroad recently.
Moreover, the public as well as the SAR government should be prepared for a significant increase in Hong Kong young people coming back from universities in countries grappling with the pandemic. The mainland has seen a rising influx recently of returning nationals, especially students from overseas, including the US and UK, after their schools were closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is only fair for Hong Kong to expect the same to happen soon. Their return will put more pressure on public hospitals and temporary quarantine centers. Since Hong Kong is not required by law to turn anyone back in such cases, it has to quarantine them somewhere safe. Therefore, people are now legitimately concerned about the obvious shortage of quarantine facilities, not just for visitors from countries and regions on the red-alert list. Those who continue to oppose or even sabotage government efforts to set up more quarantine facilities are despicable and should be condemned.
Ever since US President Donald Trump declared a nationwide state of emergency last week, a number of Hong Kong and foreign experts have warned of more Western countries following suit. Now that the US and UK are red-alerted, many people believe it is only a matter of time before other major English-speaking countries join them. Given the popularity of those English-speaking countries as tourist and higher-education destinations among Hong Kong residents, there is no telling how many people will be coming home from those countries in the coming days. The SAR government should make an effort to find out for the sake of better planning.
As for members of the public, they need to heighten rather than lower their guard against COVID-19 infection, preferably by staying at home as best they can and taking all preventive measures when they have to go out. Don’t take any risks unless you absolutely have to!
