Lawmaker wants quarantine for evacuation flights crew

A lawmaker demanded that the authorities quarantine the crews on the Cathay Pacific Airways flights that bring Hong Kong passengers of the virus-ravaged Diamond Princess cruise ship home from Japan.
Andrew Wan, from the Democratic Party, said the dozens of immigration officers in Yokohama to help the evacuees should also also be put into quarantine for 14 days when their mission is over.
Wan said he had also learnt that the aircraft involved in the evacuation will resume carrying commercial passengers just a couple of days later.
He said he doesn't believe this will leave enough time for the plane or planes to be fully sanitized to ensure safety of passengers.
But in Legco, Secretary for Security John Lee Ka-chiu said there is no need for the flight crews or immigration officials to be quarantined because they will be wearing face masks, and possibly gloves, and the risk of them catching the Covid-19 virus is low.
Meanwhile, Transport Secretary Frank Chan said that the authorities will ensure that the planes are disinfected.
Cathay Pacific was yet to respond to an enquiry on the arrangements by RTHK.
The government has said that three flights could be arranged to bring back those among the 350 or so residents who wish to return to Hong Kong and have tested negative for the virus.

The first of these people were expected to disembark from the cruise ship on Wednesday night, officials said.