City
Epaper

HK hospital strike calls to close China border

By IANS | Updated: February 3, 2020 13:40 IST

More than 1,000 Hong Kong public hospital workers staged a strike on Monday as they demanded the city's government to completely close the border with mainland China in an effort to curb the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

Open in App

Long queues formed at various hospitals as doctors, nurses and medical assistants registered for the industrial action, aimed primarily at forcing the border shutdown, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) said in a report.

"Closing the border entirely is the only effective way to prevent the spread of the virus," University of Hong Kong microbiologist Ho Pak-leung told a radio programme.

Ho said that closing the border would not be discriminatory or go against the World Health Organization's 2005 International Health Regulations, a legal instrument which includes specific measures for ports, airports and ground crossings to limit the spread of diseases.

He added that anyone entering the city from the mainland carried the same risk of infection, whether they are a Chinese citizen, a Hong Kong resident or a foreign national.

More than 3,000 non-essential hospital workers were expected to take part in the strike's first wave on Monday, a day after Chief Executive Carrie Lam refused to meet the Hospital Authority Employees Alliance, an 18,000-strong union which emerged last December during the anti-government protests, said the SCMP report.

The alliance has threatened to step up its action, with more than 6,000 essential personnel joining the strike on Tuesday if the government refuses to respond by 6 p.m. on Monday.

China's death toll from the new coronavirus increased to 361 on Monday, surpassing the number of fatalities of its SARS crisis two decades ago.

In Hong Kong, where there were 15 confirmed cases, the government had closed six of its 15 border checkpoints, and refused entry to travellers coming from Wuhan.

But it had resisted calls that the closure should cover everyone coming from China and be extended to all border checkpoints.

( With inputs from IANS )

Tags: Hong KongchinaScmpCarrie Lam
Open in App

Related Stories

MumbaiMumbai Crime Branch Bust International Gang Behind Cyberfraud and Online Gaming Scams; 5 Arrested

InternationalBeijing Rains: 44 Dead and 9 Missing Due to Torrential Rainfall in China

InternationalTsunami Alert Issued in Parts of China After 8.8-Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Off Russian Coast

National"Never Said Trump Was Lying, Didn't Mention China Even Once": Rahul Gandhi on PM Modi's Operation Sindoor Speech (Watch Video)

OpinionsAfter ‘Cloud Bomb’, ‘Water Bomb’ Now?

International Realted Stories

International'No unilateral Ukraine peace deal in Alaska': Zelenskyy, European leaders urge Trump

InternationalSouth Korea's ex-First Lady Kim Keon Hee to face special counsel questioning after corruption arrest

InternationalIndependence Day celebrations in Pak's Karachi turn deadly: 3 killed, over 60 injured in reckless aerial firing

International"The answer to that is no": Trump on persuading Putin to halt attacks on civilians in Ukraine

InternationalIf you cave in to a bully, the bully will increase his demands: Former diplomat on India-US tariff row