HONG KONG - A group of protesters set
alight on Sunday the lobby of a newly built residential building
in Hong Kong that authorities planned to use as a quarantine
facility, as public fears in the financial hub about the
coronavirus outbreak intensified.
A Reuters witness saw several masked protesters, clad in
black, rush into the public housing block in Hong Kong's Fanling
district near to the border with China, and set alight a Molotov
cocktail before running out. Black smoke could be seen pouring
out of the building to the sound of fire alarms. Windows were
smashed.
Earlier in the afternoon, hundreds of regular Hong Kong
citizens had blocked roads leading to the building with bricks
and other debris, as anger grew towards government plans to
convert the building into a quarantine zone as the number of
confirmed cases in the city climbed to six on Sunday.
"We are dissatisfied with the government selecting this
housing estate as a (quarantine) separation village as it's very
close to a residential area and a primary school," said a
28-year-old resident surnamed Tsang.
Public calls have also grown for the Hong Kong government to
block the financial hub's border with mainland China to further
minimise the risk of infection.
Earlier on Sunday, Hong Kong authorities said they would
convert "Fai Ming Estate, an unoccupied public estate in
Fanling, into temporary flats for quarantine and observation of
close contact persons without symptoms if needed".
Health authorities in the afternoon said 107 people were now
under quarantine, and there were 77 suspected cases.
The ability of the new coronavirus to spread is
strengthening and infections could continue to rise, China's
National Health Commission said on Sunday, with nearly 2,000
people in China infected and 56 killed by the disease.
A handful of cases have been reported outside China,
including in Thailand, Australia, the United States and France,
with health authorities around the world racing to prevent a
pandemic.