Review Quarantine Exemption For Ship Crew: Experts

Renowned health experts are calling on the government to review the exemption of quarantine measures for shipping crew who fly into Hong Kong as authorities reported that a number of sailors tested positive on arrival.

Microbiologist Ho Pak-leung said the government should immediately withdraw quarantine exemption for sailors.

The University of Hong Kong expert said that while the authorities had classified countries like the Philippines and India as high risk, the sailors from those countries are exempted from the compulsory quarantine arrangement.

He said that is bound to create problems, and urged the authorities to immediately drop the exemption policy.

Ho said though the ship crew who flew to Hong Kong have to leave saliva samples for testing on arrival, the sailors are able to move about before knowing the test results.

Communicable diseases expert Leung Chi-chiu also agreed that Hong Kong authorities need to ensure that ship crews are not moving about freely as they await test results.

He said some seamen should be exempted from the mandatory quarantine policy, especially those who are linked to maintaining vital supplies to the city.

But Leung, from the Hong Kong Medical Association, said it’s time to review the exemptions for most of the other shipping crew who head to the city.

He told RTHK’s Candice Wong that sailors who arrive here should not be allowed to mingle with the local population.

In a response to an enquiry, the Marine Department said that more than 10,000 crew members have been exempted from compulsory quarantine.

According to a government note earlier this month, shipping companies are to arrange all crew members “to undergo nucleic acid tests at the point of departure within 48 hours before embarking to travel to Hong Kong”.

Once they arrive here, they are placed under "medical surveillance" which means they are subject to measures like wearing face masks when going to public places and checking their temperature twice a day themselves.

But health experts say there is a loophole in the measures, as many people who tested positive for the coronavirus had no symptoms and the regulations rely on the self-discipline of the visitors.