Govt Says Hotel Quarantine Has 'teething Problems'

The government admitted on Thursday that there have been some "teething problems" with the move to make people flying into Hong Kong wait for Covid-19 test results at a hotel in Kowloon, with some people flouting an isolation rule and others complaining about going hungry.

Some of those ordered to stay inside rooms at the Regal Oriental Hotel told RTHK they hadn't been given enough food to eat, while some people were seen wandering around the hotel and going down to the lobby to ask when their test results would be coming back.

A man surnamed Chan, who flew in from Canada, told reporters he had a croissant at 9am on Thursday, and from midday he began calling the front desk asking if he could get some lunch.

He said after a couple of hours, he stole a lunchbox from outside the room opposite him.

A delivery worker said he'd been sent to the hotel with food for customers who said they hadn't eaten since Wednesday night. But he said he was turned away because hotel staff could not get someone from the Department of Health to accept the delivery.

A woman surnamed Hui told reporters that hotel staff couldn't provide people with any information regarding the test results, saying only that the government was responsible for the matter.

At a Centre for Health Protection (CHP) press conference, Undersecretary for Food and Health Dr Chui Tak-yi said being as the hotel only began operating as a holding centre on Wednesday, there was still some "fine-tuning ongoing".

He said people sent to the hotel are being given clear instructions that they must stay in their rooms, and that it is against the law to go out.

Chui added that police officers should be stationed outside the entrance of the hotel to prevent people from leaving.

"I think in the beginning there may be some people who are very anxious to know their results, so I think we would continue to remind people of the importance of staying in their room, not just from the legal perspective, but also from the public health prevention perspective," he said.

"I think with clear understanding and also fine-tuning the logistics in communication, for example with trying to call the front desk or call the Department of Health for inquiries, I think if that can be improved perhaps there’s much less, or no need for them to leave the room for such inquiries."

Chui said more than 280 people had so far been sent to the hotel after being tested for Covid-19, and the results had come back negative on all of them.

Meanwhile, the CHP's Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan told reporters that there were two newly confirmed Covid-19 cases on Thursday, comprising of two men aged 27 and 58 who had recently arrived in Hong Kong from France and the US respectively.

Chuang said the 58-year-old man lives in a serviced apartment in Happy Valley, and started to feel unwell on March 26 and therefore put himself in home quarantine. But officials said he didn't see a doctor or notify the authorities.

After the quarantine period ended, he went to his office at the Hong Kong Club Building for a few hours, the dentist two weeks ago, and had a haircut at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel.

The hairdressers were not considered to have had a high chance of infection, but tests were to be carried out on staff at the dentist clinic, while three cleaners who cleaned the man's apartment were being put into quarantine.

The 27-year-old man who came back on Tuesday lives in Sheung Wan. His wife has since been sent to quarantine, officials said.