A UK air stewardess angry about having to complete a 14-day quarantine in a government isolation facility has likened it to “an actual concentration camp.”
UK tabloid The Sun reported on Thursday that Ellie Freeman and a dozen British Airways crew members were taken to a quarantine camp after a stewardess on their flight, BA31, tested positive for COVID-19.
They were earlier meant to quarantine at the SkyCity Marriott Hotel near the airport.
The Sun posted a series of videos Freeman shared on her Snapchat account, which she took to to rant about her quarantine ordeal.
In one video, she films her bus passing the rows of colorful houses at the quarantine center at Penny’s Bay as she mutters “oh my God.”
When she opens the door to her home for the next two weeks, revealing a modest, basic-but-functional two-bed room, she proclaims, “No way am I doing that. No way.”
“I’m not even sharing, I have my own room.” She says. “But f*** this.”
She also films her room’s adjoined toilet. “This is my bathroom, this is my shower,” she narrates as she lifts up the shower head.
Zooming in on a sheet of paper for her to indicate her meal choices, she says, “I’ve just chosen pasta for everything.”
Freeman, who appears to have deactivated or deleted her Instagram account, could not be reached for comment. Her former Instagram bio, according to a cached Google search result preview, read that she is “made in England” and “traveling the world.”
In an emailed response to Coconuts Hong Kong, British Airways said it is aware of the remarks reported in media, and that it “always put[s] the safety and wellbeing of our teams and customers at the heart of everything we do.”
The Sun also reported that “British diplomats and airline bosses are asking China to allow the crew to return to the UK and quarantine here.” (The tabloid presumably referred to Hong Kong as China.)
The airline did not respond to a question about whether it had spoken with local authorities about flying the crew back to the UK for quarantine.
The Department of Health told Coconuts Hong Kong that it did not receive any complaints from British Airways staff regarding the quarantine facility.
