- Government estimates there could be more than 2,000 Hongkongers still in the city, including several pregnant women
- Those returning to Hong Kong will be quarantined in public housing estate in Fo Tan
The Hong Kong government has said it will send chartered flights to rescue residents, including several pregnant women, stranded in mainland China's locked down Wuhan city " but it cannot commit to a time frame, the Post had learned.
It also said those returning would be placed in a public housing estate in Fo Tan " the city's fifth containment centre " which would also be used to quarantine those coming back from the Diamond Princess cruise liner, that was docked off Yokohama in Japan from February 4.
Trapped and desperate: expectant mothers among Hongkongers stuck in Wuhan
"Fo Tan has the best facilities and security compared with the other quarantine centres and would be more suitable to accommodate "higher-risk" cases," said Dr Lam Ching-choi, an executive councillor.
Pictures of the rapid expansion at Lei Yue Mun Park and Holiday Village, another quarantine site, went viral on Monday as the government confirmed it had used prefabricated containers to build more 120 extra places which a source said should be ready by Saturday.
"We have to prepare enough places for a possible surge of confirmed cases in the city, aside from the Hong Kong residents coming from Wuhan," Lam said.
However, Lam said there was little possibility the chartered flights could be sent this week.
"But once we are ready, pregnant women will be one of our priorities."
Lam said the government was working hard to overcome the many challenges it faced getting the Hongkongers out of Wuhan.
Hopes had been raised on Monday morning that the lockdown of the city at the centre of the Covid-19 outbreak might be relaxed and some people would be allowed to leave. But the Wuhan authorities revoked the announcement barely three hours after it was issued.
The government said the notice had been issued by a subordinate working group of the city's disease control command centre without their superiors' approval, China News Service reported.
The centre said it would reprimand the officials who issued the order without approval.
The order would have allowed non-residents who showed no symptoms and had no contact with infected patients to leave the city. But it had not been clear whether Hong Kong residents or foreign nationals were allowed to exit as the order appeared to apply only to Chinese citizens.
Extreme lockdown measures have been in place since January 23, with all residential quarters quarantined and roads and transport links closed in Hubei province.
Lam said there were challenges getting an estimated 2,000 Hongkongers out of Wuhan.
"Unlike on the cruise ship, people in Wuhan are dispersed and the government may not be able to reach all of them. Also, we have to think of ways to combine everyone safely, while Wuhan is still in lockdown," he said.
"But at the moment, a chartered flight is preferable to the high-speed railway or other methods," Lam said. "We hope to proceed as soon as possible but we need concrete plans."
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