HONG KONG – Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said in an interview with Hong Kong’s Ta Kung Pao newspaper published yesterday that Hong Kong is discussing with Guangdong and Macau the mutual easing of mandatory quarantine restrictions, hoping it will soon be put into practice.
The Hong Kong government announced last month the extension of mandatory quarantine for all inbound travelers from the mainland to June 7 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Lam said in the interview she hoped a plan can be drawn up as soon as possible to allow people from Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macau who meet specific cross-border purposes and have tested negative for COVID-19 to be exempted from the quarantine measure.
Lam said that the Hong Kong government has always adhered to three major principles, namely speedy response, full preparedness, and openness and transparency in its anti-epidemic work. However, some people have adopted a double standard and tried to use the epidemic issue for political demands.
The Hong Kong government “presents facts, makes sense and emphasises science” when dealing with public health issues, she said, adding one should not introduce political issues to affect the handling of public health issues.
Since January, some opposition politicians have repeatedly claimed that people from the mainland should be banned from entering Hong Kong to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Lam pointed out that since February 8 the Department of Health of the Hong Kong government has issued more than 100,000 mandatory quarantine orders to mainland visitors to Hong Kong, and so far, none of them has tested positive for COVID-19.
On the other hand, from March 18, the department has issued about 70,000 mandatory quarantine orders to foreign arrivals, and so far, more than 400 of them have been confirmed to be infected with COVID-19.
“If we want to evaluate the epidemic prevention and control in the mainland and in some other countries, these two sets of figures are of reference value,” she said.
– Xinhua, MPD
