'Ban Mainlanders Now Hubei Lockdown Is Ending'

Civic Party lawmaker and doctor Kwok Ka-ki said on Tuesday that Hong Kong must ban any arrivals from the mainland now that a lockdown over Covid-19 is being lifted in Hubei province, where the deadly virus emerged late last year.

Kwok warned of a possible influx of infected people arriving from Hubei, including Hong Kong residents who have been trapped there, and said the SAR's medical and quarantine systems would not be able to cope.

While non-residents will be banned from entering Hong Kong for two weeks from Wednesday, this will not apply to anyone coming from the mainland, Macau or Taiwan, as long as they haven't been abroad in the previous two weeks.

However, Hong Kong has banned any arrivals from Hubei since the end of January.

"As of today, there are hundreds of patients in Wuhan, and perhaps in the whole of Hubei, who are actually testing positive for Covid-19," Kwok said.

"[But] they don't have symptoms. In Hong Kong and in any other place, these patients would be classified as positive, but on the mainland the classification is totally different. So that is why they have such a low number of reported cases."

Kwok doubted that it would be possible for Hong Kong to identify whether somebody arriving from the mainland had just come from Hubei, and said therefore, all arrivals should be banned.

He said a lack of travel history information for arrivals means that "all those coming from the mainland pose a great risk".

Two months after the lockdown was imposed, mainland officials have announced that those wishing to leave Hubei province can do so from Wednesday, as long as they have a "green" health code issued by the authorities.

The travel restrictions in place for the provincial capital, Wuhan, will last longer though, until April 8.