Authorities have issued red outbound travel alerts for parts of France, Germany, Japan, and Spain in a bid to prevent more imported COVID-19 cases in Hong Kong.
In a statement published last night, the Security Bureau announced that red outbound travel alerts will be issued for the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté and Grand Est regions of France, the North Rhine-Westphalia region of Germany, Hokkaido in Japan, and La Rioja, Madrid, and Pais Vasco regions of Spain.
Bourgogne-Franche-Comté and Grand Est cover the Burgundy area and the city of Strasbourg, while Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia region covers the cities of Düsseldorf and Cologne.
On Friday, the authorities implemented similar red alerts for three regions in Italy — Emilia-Romagna, Lombardy, and Veneto — and last night, they announced that the red alert will now cover the entire country.
A red alert is the second-highest, after black, of Hong Kong’s three travel risk categories. Other countries in the red alert category include Pakistan, Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, and the southeastern provinces of Turkey. The only black alert currently in effect is for Syria.
In addition to the travel alerts, the Department of Health has announced that anyone who has arrived in Hong Kong from the aforementioned regions in the last 14 days will be put into mandatory quarantine, and authorities will arrange for them to stay at a quarantine center.
The news comes as parts of Europe see a surge in coronavirus cases. According to data from Johns Hopkins University and the Robert Koch Institute, France has seen nearly 1,800 cases and 33 deaths, Germany has nearly 1,600 cases and two deaths, Spain has reported almost 1,700 cases and 35 deaths, and Italy is on virtual lockdown, with more than 10,000 cases and 631 deaths.
Health officials in Hong Kong also confirmed last night that a couple from Tuen Mun have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of cases in the SAR to 121.
The couple, both aged 59, had traveled to Egypt with a tour group a few weeks ago. One of the members of that group, a 59-year-old Food and Environmental Hygiene Department worker, tested positive on Tuesday, bringing the total number of cases related to that trip to three.
The Centre for Health Protection confirmed that the tour group in question — which comprised about eight people — flew economy class with Turkish Airlines from Cairo to Istanbul, and then from Istanbul to Hong Kong, and urged anyone who shared the same cabin on flights TK695 and TK70 to contact the CHP hotline.
