As of 4 a.m. this morning, the Hong Kong government announced a lockdown or a limited lockdown of around 200 buildings stretching from Woosung Road in the east, Nanking Road in the south, Battery Road in the west, to Kansu Road in the north. As a result, more than ten thousand residents in Jordan will be confined for 48 hours in their homes, Saturday (23/1/2021).
Under the arrangement, residents must remain in their homes and undergo mandatory testing. No one is allowed to leave the locked area until everyone in the area has been tested for Covid-19 and tested negative.
According to the government, the lockdown aims to reach zero cases in the area, and is expected to be completed within 48 hours so residents can be allowed to return to work starting at around 6am the day after Monday.
The affected area, full of old buildings and divided flats, is nearly 500,000 square feet and overlaps with a mandatory testing zone established earlier this week.
In the early hours of this morning, the police sealed off a “forbidden” area that will partly be used to set up 51 temporary sampling stations. All residents will be grouped to undergo a nucleic acid test, in which a throat and nasal cavity swab will be taken.
Residents who test negative will be allowed to leave their buildings only after the limited lockdown is lifted. Even those who test negative will be asked to stay home as much as possible.
At 7am today, officers wearing protective gear have prepared a counter for registration at the checkpoint. Meanwhile, officers from other disciplinary services, namely customs, fire services, correctional services, and immigration, are prepared to initiate door-to-door inspections with health workers.
Food and Health Secretary Sophia Chan Siu-chee said the measure was necessary after 162 confirmed cases were found in 56 housing blocks in Yau Tsim Mong district between January 1 and January 20.
Chan said authorities would not rule out a second mandatory testing in the area, as some patients may not be identified within these two days given the virus’ incubation period.
But authorities still have to examine factors such as the number of confirmed cases and virus sampling from sewage, and a lockdown may not be necessary at that point.
Chan added that the lockdown also mandated those who had stayed for more than two hours in a “restricted area” in the past 14 days to take a mandatory test before midnight on Saturday, even if they were not in the lockdown area after the measure took effect.
Environment Minister Wong Kam-sing said previous waste surveillance with the University of Hong Kong showed that about 90 percent of buildings in the targeted area had tested positive.
Asked why the measure took effect at 4 a.m., Interior Secretary Caspar Tsui Ying-wai stated that the short notice period was to prevent residents from leaving the area, and stressed that residents who had been to the area should also take the test. But news of the move leaked ahead of yesterday’s announcement, giving some residents time to leave the area early.
According to Tsui, around 3,000 staff spread across various departments have been deployed in the lockdown, which is expected to include more than 1,700 police and other disciplinary services officers.
Tsui added that many buildings in the area are “three zeros” – with no owner companies, residents organizations or property management companies – and have poor hygiene conditions, officers will thoroughly disinfect the area after the lockdown.
Officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs will deliver food to nursing home residents in the area, while staff who speak a Nepali-like language will be sent to areas where many ethnic minorities live.
In addition, the Ministry of Home Affairs has set up hotlines 2399 6949 and 2835 1473, as well as providing a special hotline 3755 6816 for ethnic minorities.
