[Explanation] On the afternoon of March 20, the HKSAR Government held a press conference to announce the latest situation of the new crown pneumonia epidemic. Zhang Zhujun, director of the Department of Infectious Diseases of the Center for Health Protection of the Department of Health, said that as of 4:00 pm on the day, there were 48 new confirmed cases in Hong Kong, the highest one-day diagnosis since the epidemic.
[Concurrent] Zhang Zhujun, Director of Infectious Diseases, Centre for Health Protection, Hong Kong Department of Health
By 4 o'clock today, we had confirmed 48 cases. From 210 to 257, the age is 4 to 69 years. Of the 48 cases, 36 cases have been travelling abroad or returning from other places, many of which are in Europe, but also include some places, such as Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Turkey, Portugal, Canada, Dubai, Austria, Belgium, etc., Thailand also has. Other cases are close contacts.
[Explanation] Zhang Zhujun said that out of the 48 newly diagnosed patients, only one was a transit foreign passenger, and the others all held Hong Kong identity cards. So far, Hong Kong has accumulated 256 confirmed cases. On March 19, the SAR government has requested that people who have arrived in Hong Kong except the Mainland, Taiwan and Macau in the past 14 days will be subject to mandatory home quarantine for 14 days. From the 20th, immigrants with symptoms of upper respiratory tract infections will be arranged to be sent to the testing centres at AsiaWorld-Expo or North Lantau Hospital for virus testing and waiting for test results.
Reporter Li Yue Hu Dingxuan reports from Hong Kong
Editor-in-chief: [Wang Kai]