Hong Kong to Ban Overseas Tourists, Stop Alcohol Sales at Bars, Restaurants
- 4 years ago
- All bars, pubs and entertainment venues will also be asked to shut.
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- A recent spike in infections, many of them imported, has threatened to derail the city’s efforts against the outbreak.
Hong Kong will stop all foreign tourist and transit arrivals to the city from Wednesday and ban the sale of alcohol at more than 8,000 bars and restaurants to contain the spread of the coronavirus, after a sudden spike in cases – most of them imported – threatened to derail its anti-epidemic efforts.
Making the announcement at a Monday afternoon press conference, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said the ban on foreign arrivals would last 14 days, confirming an earlier Post report on the measure.
All non-Hong Kong residents who arrive at the airport will be barred entry, along with anyone from mainland China, Macau and Taiwan who has a recent travel history elsewhere.
Those arriving from Macau or Taiwan directly will be allowed in, but subject to quarantine orders, as has been the case for mainland arrivals for some weeks.
Lam said the government would amend the law to forbid 8,600 restaurants, bars and clubs that hold a liquor licence to sell alcohol. But she did not give a targeted effective date.
She said the measures were vital because of the recent imported cases of infection, as she also announced tougher penalties against those who flout mandatory quarantine orders or those under home-quarantine who remove their electronic bracelet to elude detection.
The move to ban tourists comes a day after Singapore announced it would no longer allow short-term visitors to enter from 11.59pm on Monday, following the decision of other countries to do the same.
Lam’s government had come under mounting pressure to effect a similar measure. On Monday morning, both the pro-establishment camp and pan-democrats urged her to do so without delay.
On Monday, the reality of how inbound travellers could threaten the city’s anti-epidemic efforts hit home when a doctor tasked with screening returning travellers at Hong Kong International Airport was among at least 10 people to have tested preliminarily positive for Covid-19.
The Department of Health employee, who had been working at the airport since March 16, was being treated at Prince of Wales Hospital in Sha Tin.
“She was mainly responsible for signing quarantine orders and asking travellers questions,” a source said.
It was not immediately clear how she contracted the virus. If confirmed, she could be the first doctor in Hong Kong to have been infected while working in the city.
If Monday’s positive tests are confirmed, they would take the city’ infection tally to 327, with four deaths.Hong Kong reported a flurry of 44 cases on Sunday, the second-highest single-day spike since the outbreak began.
Source: SCMP
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