Hong Kong residents on cruise ship going home

A second chartered flight will bring back more Hong Kong residents stranded onboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan on Friday at the earliest, after the first group of 106 people landed in Hong Kong on Thursday morning.

All residents were cleared of the novel coronavirus by the Japanese government before disembarking the vessel, which has been in quarantine at the Japanese port of Yokohama for more than two weeks. They are now under a 14-day mandatory quarantine in Chun Yueng Estate as a precaution.

Back home, Hong Kong confirmed two more infections and one likely confirmed case, bringing the total to a possible 68.

Diamond Princess had been quarantined since Feb 3 with 634 people onboard infected by the novel coronavirus, including 55 among 364 people from Hong Kong.

The 55 infected patients and 33 people who have been in close contact with them had to stay in Japan for treatment and medical observation, said Secretary for Security John Lee Ka-chiu, who met with the media after the passengers arrived.

Also meeting reporters, Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee said the body temperatures of all passengers had been checked before they had boarded the plane and after they had disembarked.

They will be tested for the disease again after arriving at Chun Yeung Estate in Fo Tan, Chan said, adding only those who tested positive will be isolated. Chan stressed that the 14-day quarantine was necessary as the proliferation of the infection on the ship showed the transmission chain hadn't been cut off.

Chan said medical staff would be on duty around the clock at the estate. People under quarantine are not allowed to go out, and designated vehicles will be arranged for exceptional cases, she said.

She also called on local residents not to panic as the quarantine center is located far from other residential buildings.

Also on Thursday, the city's Department of Health urged passengers who had shared buses with two infected patients on Feb 5 to contact the government.

The city's 25th and 62nd patients, who did not know each other, entered Hong Kong from Macao on Feb 5. They took the same 101X bus from downtown Macao to the checkpoints of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and then transferred to a shuttle bus to Hong Kong at 5 pm.

The two buses carried a total of about 40 passengers.