281 HK residents brought back from Hubei by 2 chartered flights

Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-25 23:41:54|Editor: huaxia

HONG KONG, March 25 (Xinhua) -- A total of 281 Hong Kong residents stranded in central China's Hubei Province by the COVID-19 outbreak were brought back to Hong Kong on Wednesday by two chartered flights commissioned by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government.

The two flights, with 131 and 150 passengers on board respectively, landed at the Hong Kong International Airport at around 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. local time respectively.

The HKSAR government's Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Patrick Nip, who headed to Hubei on Wednesday to lead the operation, told media upon his arrival in Hong Kong on the second chartered flight that among the passengers 121 were stranded in Xianning city, 76 in Huangshi city, 41 in Xiaogan city and the rest in some other cities of Hubei province.

Out of them 74 people are aged under 16, and 13 people are aged above 60.

The passengers will undergo 14-day home quarantine upon their arrival, Nip said, adding that the HKSAR government made the quarantine arrangements after consulting public health experts and reviewing the COVID-19 situation in Hubei province, the whole mainland, as well as Hong Kong.

Those who contravene the quarantine order will be subject to a maximum imprisonment for six months and fine of 25,000 Hong Kong dollars (about 3,221 U.S. dollars), Nip warned.

After arranging four chartered flights to bring back 469 Hong Kong residents from Hubei in early March, the HKSAR started on Wednesday the second round of chartered flights operation.

The two-day operation, participated by dozens of staff from different departments of the HKSAR government, plans to send a total of four chartered flights to Hubei, and is expected to bring back more than 500 Hong Kong residents.

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