The Covid-19 situation is getting out of hand.
More and more countries are introducing border restrictions to reduce the growing risk of Covid-19 importation.
On Sunday (15 March), the Health Ministry revised its travel advisory, advising Singaporeans to defer all non-essential travel and tightening border restrictions.
Some countries have barred all travellers from entering their countries, while others have started quarantining arrivals, such as Australia and New Zealand.
Now, there’s one more country to add to that list.
Hong Kong to Quarantine All Travellers from 19 March 2020 Midnight
Starting midnight on 19 March, all travellers arriving in Hong Kong will be placed under quarantine to prevent further spread of the coronavirus, chief executive Carrie Lam said at a press briefing.
Carrie Lam also advised Hong Kong residents to avoid all non-essential travel.
Hong Kong detected its first cases as early as January, but thanks to a swift response from the authorities and the community, they’ve managed to keep the outbreak under control.
Even before Hong Kong confirmed its first Covid-19 case, authorities quickly responded very soon after the first declared case in Wuhan.
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Existing temperature-screening stations at ports of entry were expanded, and local clinicians were asked to report to the city’s health authorities any patient with a fever or acute respiratory symptoms and a history of recent travel to Wuhan.
Extensive efforts have also been made to track down and quarantine the close contacts of confirmed cases.
The Hong Kong government also deployed extensive measures to encourage social distancing as early as 27 Jan – many civil servants were asked to work from home for the following month, all kindergartens and schools were closed until 16 Feb, and most large-scale events have been cancelled or postponed.
Growing global infections
But with the growing number of infections in many countries, stricter measures had to be implemented.
“In many countries, the number of confirmed cases can be described as explosive,” Lam said.
“If we don’t adopt some strict measures … I’m afraid all precaution efforts done in the past two months would be wasted. It will affect the public health of Hong Kong.”
Current Situation in Hong Kong
Hong Kong currently has 157 confirmed coronavirus cases. Four have died from the disease so far. 50 of the latest 57 cases were people with recent travel history, Lam said.
A lack of proper measures could lead to community outbreaks and burden Hong Kong’s health care system, CNBC reported.
You may be alarmed that so many countries are taking such drastic measures, but this is actually a good thing.
As a few countries have learned, if you wait until it’s too late, the outbreak can be absolutely devastating.
