HK shuts most China crossings amid virus fear
Decision follows strike by medics calling for border to be completely sealed
HONG KONG: City leader Carrie Lam yesterday announced Hong Kong was closing all but two land crossings with the Chinese mainland to slow the spread of a deadly new coronavirus as medics staged strikes calling for the border to be completely sealed.
The semi-autonomous financial centre has 15 confirmed cases of the disease, most brought from the mainland where the epidemic began and has so far killed more than 360 people.
Lam said all land crossings would be closed at midnight except for two bridges, the first connecting Hong Kong to Shenzhen and the second linking it with Zhuhai and casino hub Macau.
The city’s airport, one of the world’s busiest, would remain open to mainlanders, although there are already restrictions on people from central Hubei province where the epidemic began.
Lam said the latest closures, which came after four crossings were shuttered last week, would reduce the number of Chinese mainlanders and allow officials to focus resources on two land entry points as well as the airport.
“The numbers will come down,” she told reporters.
She reiterated her view that a complete closure of the border would be impractical, economically damaging and discriminatory given the close links between Hong Kong and the mainland.
But calls for a full border closure are growing, fuelled by a historical mistrust of the mainland after nearly 300 Hong Kong residents were killed in the 2003 SARS outbreak, which was initially covered up by Beijing.
Yesterday, hundreds of medical workers walked off their jobs for the start of a five-day strike.
The first batch were “non-essential” staff but the union has said more strikers, including frontline doctors and nurses, will walk out today after they rejected the government’s latest move.
The city’s Hospital Authority, which employs 75,000 people, warned that half of pre-booked operations would be cancelled, but the strike appeared to have little impact on emergency procedures.
Lam said her decision to close more border crossings was not sparked by the strikes, which she described as an “irrational act”. – AFP