HK extend quarantine for travelers from Chinese mainland for another month

HONG KONG, April 28 (Xinhua) -- China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) will extend mandatory quarantine for all inbound travelers from the mainland that will expire on May 7 for another one month to June 7 amid the COVID-19 epidemic.

At a press conference held on Tuesday afternoon, HKSAR government Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan announced the extension, saying that persons such as cross-boundary students including students at kindergartens, primary and secondary schools or relevant staff working for students, and those who benefit Hong Kong's economy, or provide professional services will be exempted from the mandatory quarantine.

Starting from Feb. 8, Hong Kong has been requiring all travelers entering Hong Kong from the mainland, including both Hong Kong residents and non-Hong Kong residents, to undergo a mandatory quarantine for 14 days. Persons such as drivers of cross-boundary goods delivery vehicles, crew members of arriving passenger and cargo planes, and crew members of cargo ships and fishing boats, have been exempted from the mandatory quarantine.

Chan said the mainland has flattened the curve on the COVID-19 epidemic, but Hong Kong needs to prevent the spread of a possible second round of infection caused by cross-boundary traffic and imported cases from overseas.

If the epidemic is controlled well, the HKSAR government will announce as of whether to cancel the quarantine for arrivals from the mainland and the Macao Special Administrative Region after discussion, Chan said.

Hong Kong's Center for Health Protection reported no new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, the third day in a row and the fifth time in nine days.

As of 4:00 p.m. local time, no new confirmed cases of the COVID-19 had been recorded, and the total number of confirmed cases in Hong Kong remained at 1,037, the CHP said.

The CHP again urged members of the public to maintain an appropriate social distance with other people as far as possible in their daily lives and avoid social activities to minimize the risk of infection and outbreak clusters in the community.

The CHP also urged Hong Kong residents to avoid all non-essential travel outside Hong Kong, given that the situation of the COVID-19 infection remains severe and that there is a continuous increase in the number of cases reported around the world.