Hong Kong Disneyland said it will lend vacant sites to the government to build quarantine facilities for the coronavirus, or COVID-19, outbreak.
“We have secured the company’s consent to use part of the site if it is needed,” Commerce and Economic Development Bureau chief Edward Yau Tang-wah said of Disneyland. A 150-acre plot that is reserved for Disneyland’s expansion on Lantau Island will be used, he said.
“We need all quarantine facilities for surveillance, basically we will leave no stone unturned [when identifying sites for building quarantine facilities],” Yau said during a government press conference, as reported by the
South China Morning Post.
Officials said a smaller plot of land near the Disney parking lot could allow for about 600 quarantine units, the report said.
During the early stages of the outbreak last month, both Hong Kong Disneyland and Shanghai Disneyland closed their operations.
“As a precautionary measure in line with prevention efforts taking place across Hong Kong, we are temporarily closing Hong Kong Disneyland park ... out of consideration for the health and safety” for customers and employees, the park said at the time,
according to news reports.
It comes as World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
said Friday that a WHO-led mission with China “is moving forward,” which consists of 12 international and WHO experts.
On Thursday, White House adviser Larry Kudlow said U.S. leaders are “disappointed” with how the Chinese regime has handled the outbreak, saying Washington hasn’t received enough information.
“I wish we did know more. You know, this should not be about politics or for that matter, trade. This is just plain, ordinary health, public health, to help people,” Kudlow
told reporters. “The virus is contained in the United States. We don’t know if it’s contained in China.”
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