The U.S. Consulate General in Hong Kong and Macau issued another statement a day after announcing the initial confirmation of two Consulate General employees infected with the new coronavirus, accusing Chinese media in Hong Kong of spreading false information in response to the incident. Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s chief executive hinted that the SAR government needs to impose a quarantine on the U.S. Consulate General under current policy.
The U.S. Consulate General in Hong Kong and Macau said Monday (March 15, 2021) that two Consulate General employees in Hong Kong recently tested positive for New Coronavirus and that the Consulate General was closed to the public on March 16 and 17 to allow for two days of deep disinfection and cleaning while appropriate contact tracing was conducted.
The Consulate General also emphasized that it takes the prevention and containment of the New Coronavirus seriously and has complied with all Hong Kong government requirements for the arrival, testing and quarantine of all diplomatic personnel and their families since the beginning of the pandemic. In coordination with Hong Kong authorities, all U.S. Consulate General staff in Hong Kong responsibly took all appropriate measures to avoid the spread of the virus.
Later, Hong Kong’s Ta Kung Pao and Wen Wei Po reported that according to “reliable sources,” two staff members of the U.S. Consulate General in Hong Kong and Macau were initially diagnosed with the new coronavirus, but refused to accept quarantine arrangements on the grounds of diplomatic immunity, and are still moving around the community and going to work at the consulate as usual.
In response, the Consulate General issued another statement Tuesday, saying that “China-controlled media outlets are spreading false information about the two positive tests for the new coronavirus among U.S. consulate employees and our response to them.” The statement also included a press release issued by the Hong Kong government. The press release said that the two U.S. consulate staff members initially diagnosed with the new coronavirus have been quarantined at the hospital, adding that “the U.S. Consulate General in Hong Kong has been fully cooperating with the government’s efforts to prevent and combat the Epidemic.”
A press release from the Hong Kong government Monday said the Food and health Bureau has issued a mandatory testing notice as a matter of policy, requiring those who were at the U.S. Consulate General in Hong Kong between March 2 and March 15, 2021, to be tested for the new coronavirus.
It is unclear whether this means that Hong Kong government personnel will enter the U.S. Consulate General in Hong Kong and Macau for virus testing. Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said Tuesday before attending an executive session that the government’s policy is that if a confirmed case is found in a workplace, the government should conduct mandatory testing of the premises to avoid missing some asymptomatic infected people. She also expressed pleasure at the statement issued by the U.S. Consulate General that it would cooperate with the SAR government’s quarantine arrangements.
Last year, as the New crown outbreak began to spread around the world, China used its increasingly prominent influence on Western social media to spread claims that the U.S. created the New Crown virus as a biological weapon, among other things.
Last March, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian tweeted, “When did patient zero show up in the US?” , also writing “It may be that the U.S. military brought the outbreak to Wuhan. U.S. wants transparency! Want public data! The US owes us an explanation!”
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