HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong has arranged four charter flights to bring back 533 of its residents from the Chinese province of Hubei, the center of the coronavirus outbreak, about a month after countries around the world began evacuating their citizens.
FILE PHOTO: Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam speaks during a news conference, in Hong Kong, China February 3, 2020. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said the flights would return on Wednesday and Thursday and those coming back would be quarantined for 14 days upon arrival.
Various countries including the United States, France, Germany and South Korea began evacuating hundreds of their citizens in late January or early February.
More than 3,800 Hong Kong residents in more than 30 cities in Hubei, of which Wuhan is capital, had asked the government of the Chinese-ruled, semi-autonomous city for help