Transcript of remarks by CE at media session
8.2.2020

Following is the transcript of remarks by the Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, at a media session with the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr Edward Yau; the Secretary for Security, Mr John Lee, and the Secretary for Food and Health, Professor Sophia Chan, today (February 8): Reporter: Today, how many people arrived Hong Kong from the Mainland and are they all in quarantine? What does the 161 mean? Chief Executive: I'll try to explain the figures in English. At the moment, Hong Kong has only three control points still in operation. They are the Hong Kong International Airport, the Shenzhen Bay as well as the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge. The Hong Kong International Airport, as you know, serves mostly international passengers. Actually, today's arrival, over 90 per cent are arrivals at the airport. This figure of 8,953 - total arrivals as at 4pm today, of the 8,953 as I just mentioned, over 90 per cent were arrivals at the airport, and arrivals at the airport very often will not be caught by the new regulation because they are not passengers arriving from the Mainland. But if those arrivals from international flights are passengers who have been in the Mainland for the past 14 days, they will still be caught by the new regulation. I just want to explain the legal basis. Coming back to the two land-based border control points, logically one would think since they are land-based so they are connected to the Mainland. The total arrivals are 807. The breakdown is like this: 125 from the Shenzhen Bay Control Point; 682 from the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge. A further breakdown will show you that of the arrivals through the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, many of them were Macao residents or Hong Kong people returning from Macao, and again, they are not caught by the regulation because they are arrivals from Macao. As a result of all these things, those who are subject to the mandatory quarantine order as at today's 4pm are 161 arrivals. Reporter: Sorry, but then I understand the two land border crossings, but out of all of the 90 per cent of arrivals at the airport, it means very few of them are in any quarantine. Chief Executive: If they are not subject to the public health concerns, I have no basis to put them onto the quarantine. Reporter: So if they arrive from Mainland China, is it, my understanding of the new regulations as of midnight Friday, if they arrive from Mainland China by any of these arrival methods, then they should be quarantined? Chief Executive: Yes, definitely. All passengers from Mainland flights arriving Hong Kong airport and coming into Hong Kong - in other words they are landing in Hong Kong, they are not just transit - they will be subject to the quarantine order. But the numbers are very small. I am sure you may notice there was one flight from Beijing with only one passenger on board, so the number is very small. But there are arrivals from the Mainland who are not necessarily Mainlanders, they could be overseas travellers arriving from the Mainland who just want to transit at the Hong Kong International Airport. (Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.) Ends/Saturday, February 8, 2020 Issued at HKT 23:08 NNNN