Several People Brought Home From Peru Test Positive

At least five of the several dozen people who returned to the SAR on Sunday after being stranded in Peru have tested positive for coronavirus, sources say.

Those infected were among 65 Hongkongers who took a flight to London organised by SAR and mainland authorities before changing to another plane to bring them back to the territory.

Upon arrival, they were all taken to AsiaWorld-Expo for Covid-19 tests and were made to wait there until the results came in.

It's believed at least five tested positive and were moved to hospital, while their close contacts were being taken to a quarantine centre.

Others from the flight have to undergo 14 days of home quarantine, like arrivals from anywhere else in the world.

The returnees spent the night at AsiaWorld-Expo waiting for the results to come back, and views were mixed on the arrangements.

A tour guide surnamed Ho said he was happy with the set-up, and that beds provided were two metres apart from each other.

A South African man who gave his name as Coen said he was very impressed with the arrangements

"Things were extremely well managed, very well managed. They were very organised. They put us through a very efficient process and gave us a clean bed to stay for the night. They informed us well what was going on and they've given us our quarantine certificates," he said.

But another man, surnamed Chan, complained that there were no partitions and said he was around 10 metres from one of those who had tested positive.

Hong Kong immigration officials said they had received 98 calls for help from residents stuck in Peru, which has imposed a lockdown over the coronavirus pandemic.

Thirteen people decided to make their own way out of the country, officials said, while 20 people chose not to take the charter flight, or were planning to remain in quarantine in Peru.