HONG KONG – Hong Kong authorities locked down a part of Kowloon Peninsula on Saturday, ordering its 10,000 residents to remain at home until all of them have been screened for the novel coronavirus and results determined.
In the restricted area, there are close to 70 buildings and the authorities hope to finish the screening within 48 hours so that people can commute to work on Monday.
Authorities in Asia’s financial and airline hub had taken drastic steps to stem the spread of the pandemic, but the lockdown is the first in the city administered by China.
In the thickly populated area, many buildings are poorly ventilated and old and contain tenements, said health secretary Sophia Chan.
“The infection risk in the community is quite high,” she said. “After assessment, we think it’s necessary to make a restriction-testing declaration in the restricted area to achieve the goal of zero cases.”
The area where the lockdown has been declared has as many as 162 confirmed cases of the virus and the ratio of virus detected in sewage samples from buildings there was higher than that of other areas.