Carrie Lam: More manpower, resources devoted against novel coronovirus
Updated 15:17, 11-Feb-2020
CGTN

Since Hong Kong imposed quarantine measures on February 8, the number of people crossing the border between Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland has decreased as expected, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) Chief Executive Carrie Lam said Tuesday at a press conference. 

She noted that as of Monday midnight, a total of 2,196 people had been regulated to take mandatory quarantine, 91 percent of whom are Hong Kong residents. 

These people are not all from Hubei Province and are not close contacts of the diagnosed persons, she said. "As there have no symptoms, the risk was assessed as low by the Center for Health Protection."

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In addition, she called for follow-up investigation into the two recent coronavirus infection cases found in the same residential building in the city's Tsing Yi area. 

She added that the police had issued arrest warrants of the two quarantined individuals who could not be contacted, stressing that the government would certainly consider prosecution if there were signs of a deliberate breach of the quarantine order.

During the press conference, Lam called for social cohesion to work together to combat the coronavirus outbreak.

The government has devoted a lot of manpower and resources in different ways to ensure that quarantined personnel stay at designated places.

Meanwhile, as of Tuesday, donations from all sectors of Hong Kong to the mainland have exceeded 1 billion yuan through channels such as the Liaison office of China's central government in HKSAR.

Some associations and institutions have also purchased anti-epidemic materials such as masks, goggles, protective clothing, medical gloves and alcohol disinfectant from overseas, and sent them to the frontline on the mainland.

Various sectors in Hong Kong have also actively supported the SAR government in preventing and controlling the epidemic and carrying out a number of anti-epidemic activities.

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