Call us if you need to leave quarantine: Carrie Lam

Call us if you need to leave quarantine: Carrie Lam

Jimmy Choi reports

Chief Executive Carrie Lam said on Tuesday that people placed into compulsory quarantine at home over the coronavirus epidemic can give the authorities a call if they need to go out for some reason.



Her remark came as authorities were still looking for two people on the run after bailing out of their 14-day home quarantine.



Several others who the authorities failed to reach claimed they were just sleeping at the time or had gone out to do some shopping.



Speaking ahead of the weekly Executive Council meeting, Lam warned that anyone who breaches the quarantine orders could face criminal liability, and she called on them to exercise self-discipline.



"I understand sometimes it’s a bit difficult to stay at home for a full two weeks, but they are doing a service to this fight against the virus by staying at home. I hope they are not those who deliberately refuse to comply," she said.



"If they need support and hence they need to go out, they could call our hotlines," she said.



Lam said the Home Affairs Department has hotlines people can call and the Social Welfare Department has more than a hundred people to provide services such as delivering meals and medicine.



"We will provide as much as possible facilitation to ensure that people comply with the quarantine order and stay at home," the CE said.



The new quarantine rules came into effect on Saturday, with anyone arriving from the mainland required to quarantine themselves for 14 days to reduce the risk of coronavirus outbreaks in the community.



So far, around 2,200 people has been placed into quarantine, most of them Hongkongers.



Meanwhile, Lam also said there are no plans to order the closure of businesses such as karaoke bars and cinemas to prevent people from gathering, although on Monday the government said it "strongly advised" such places to temporarily close.



"Hong Kong is a free society. I believe many of these operators are already taking very strong precautionary measures," Lam said.