Courts Jail Three For Breaking Quarantine Conditions

Three people who broke their quarantine conditions were jailed on Monday, with a guy who said he felt bored locked up for six weeks and another person jailed for three months for trying to deceive officials.

The person who gave boredom as a reason, Wong Yee-Keung, had arrived in Hong Kong on February 10 and was told to self-isolate for two weeks.

But three days later he was apprehended by an immigration officer in the departure hall for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge.

Wong, who pleaded guilty, had told the officer that he breached the quarantine order because he was bored staying indoors.

In sentencing, magistrate Peter Law said described Wong’s actions as “selfish to the extreme”.

Law said to reflect the seriousness of the offence, he was giving a sentence of six weeks in jail.

At a separate hearing, the same magistrate sentenced Xie Yong-yu to 10 days in prison after he was caught trying to go and visit his sick mother on the mainland.

Xie was also ordered to self-isolate for 14 days after arriving in Hong Kong from the mainland on February 8.

But four days later, he was caught trying to cross the border back to the mainland at the Shenzhen Bay crossing.

Xie pleaded guilty to breaching the quarantine order but said in mitigation that he had wanted to visit his ill mother on the mainland.

Magistrate Law noted that the coronavirus situation was fierce at the time and everyone was worried.

He said while medical staff have been working hard to prevent the disease from spreading and to protect people’s health, it takes everyone’s cooperation to fight the virus.

Law said Xie’s action increased the risk for everyone, and could potentially have affected many others if he had been a virus carrier.

At Fanling court, a 31-year-old man was jailed for three months for giving a fake address when ordered to self-quarantine after returning from the mainland.

Sing Kin Kung-Kai said he actually slept on the streets of Yuen Long and he had lied about the address because he didn't want to go to a quarantine camp.

But the magistrate came down heavily on him, saying he had showed no intention of cooperating with the officials and had tried to mislead them.

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