Coronavirus: Hong Kong warns of threat of severe outbreak as people return from overseas

Authorities further tighten measures to contain disease after imposing 14-day quarantine for all travellers

Hong Kong has said an influx of people returning to the region could lead to a community outbreak of coronavirus, potentially paralysing its healthcare system.

The Chinese-ruled territory, which has recorded 273 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and four deaths, is trying to contain a surge in new cases as people return from overseas infected with the disease.

“The influx of people returning from overseas will last at least two weeks ... The recent epidemic caused by imported cases is much more severe than any period of combating the pandemic in the past two months,” Hong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, said on Saturday.

“It is more difficult to handle and [will] most likely lead to a large and continuous community outbreak.”

Hong Kong has toughened curbs on travellers, with a 14-day quarantine for arrivals in place since midnight on Thursday, and has advised against all non-essential travel.

The government said it would make civil servants work from home and urged employers to be flexible with home-working arrangements.

Officials also said university entrance exams would be postponed until 24 April. Schools would remain closed until further notice, it added.

Both China and South Korea reported a rise in the number of incoming coronavirus cases on Friday and Saturday as expatriates continued to return home from the US and Europe, sparking fears of a second wave of infections.

All 41 of the new confirmed cases in China were brought into the country, the National Health Commission said on Saturday, raising the total number of such cases to 269. For the third consecutive day, there were no locally transmitted cases.

Beijing and Shanghai have been the main entry points for the returnees, many of whom are students, according to official reports. The students have come back after many campuses in the US and Europe shut down to stem rapidly rising infection rates.

In South Korea, officials advised the public to close facilities and forgo socialising for 15 days, keeping to its policy of voluntary social distancing but warning of consequences if the rules are not followed to slow the coronavirus outbreak.

The country reported 147 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, rising sharply from the previous day’s 87, as experts warned of the need to prepare for a “long battle” in the face of the threat posed by imported cases and new outbreaks around small clusters.

In a televised address on Saturday, South Korea’s prime minister, Chung Sye-kyun, said the government strongly recommended that religious, sports and entertainment facilities suspend operations, and people avoid socialising and travel for the next 15 days.

Additional reporting by agencies