HK Disneyland to lend vacant sites for quarantine facilities

Hong Kong Disneyland has agreed to lend vacant sites to the city's government to build coronavirus quarantine facilities, officials said.

"We have secured the company's consent to use part of the site if it is needed," the South China Morning Post quoted Commerce and Economic Development Bureau chief Edward Yau Tang-wah as saying on Friday, referring to a 60-hectare plot reserved for the theme park's expansion on Lantau Island.

"We need all quarantine facilities for surveillance," Yau told the media here.

According to a government estimate, another four hectare land near the car park at Disney could provide about 600 units.

It has also said, for the first time, that having sufficient quarantine facilities was a condition to bringing back 2,200 Hong Kong residents stranded in Hubei province, the epicentre of the deadly outbreak.

Some 10 of them have been confirmed infected with the virus.

"We have already started planning for their return," the South China Morning Post quoted Mainland Affairs Minister Patrick Nip Tak-kuen as saying on Friday.

"We first need to have these facilities as well as the understanding of residents (near the quarantine sites) before we implement the plan."

Disneyland is currently closed as a precaution against the outbreak.

As of Saturday, Hong Kong has reported 56 confirmed cases with one death.