Hong Kong shuts mainland travel links as coronavirus spreads
Hong Kong has shut down a large proportion of its transport links with mainland China in a attempt to limit the spread of the deadly coronavirus, which has infected eight people in the city.
Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s chief executive, who was wearing a green face mask as she briefed the media this morning, said that the closures would be “temporary.”
Lam said that all cross-border ferry services from the semi-autonomous city to the mainland would be suspended, as would high-speed rail links.
In addition, the number of flights to China will be halved, and no personal travel permits will be issued to Chinese people trying to visit the city.
She also urged all Hong Kong residents to return from the mainland and to remain for two weeks in a bid to stop transmission of the disease.
“I thank the central government for supporting our work in this aspect (suspending cross-border transport) and the relevant mainland ministries and commissions for co-operating with us,” she added.
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Deaths from the coronavirus have now hit triple figures as China revealed the first death of a victim in Beijing today.
The ongoing outbreak has now claimed 106 lives while China’s National Health Commission has counted more than 4,515 confirmed cases. Yesterday the number stood at 81 deaths and 2,600 cases.
Most victims are people who were in Wuhan, where the outbreak began.
The city of 11m is now under lockdown, with China banning transport to other cities as well as public gatherings.
More than a dozen countries have now confirmed cases of the virus, including France, Germany, and the United States.
The outbreak of SARS in Hong Kong in 2003, which killed nearly 300 people, still lives on in the memory of many of the city’s residents.
Hong Kong’s security secretary, John Lee, said the government would relocate resources to all border checkpoints to strengthen controls against the outbreak.