Wuhan outbreak: DAB calls on liaison office for coordination

HONG KONG – Representatives of the city's largest political party in the Legislative Council met the central government's liaison official in Hong Kong on Tuesday morning, seeking enhanced coordination between the mainland and the Special Administrative Region (SAR) on managing a viral pneumonia that broke out recently in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.

Chairwoman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) Starry Lee Wai-king met the press after meeting deputy director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the HKSAR He Jing.

She said the DAB conveyed Hong Kong residents' concern over the pneumonia in Wuhan that saw 59 people being sent to hospital as on Sunday.

DAB hoped the liaison office could ensure that the SAR received daily updates of developments related to research into and management of the virus, Lee said.

The party also called on the SAR government to strengthen quarantine checks of passengers from Wuhan, especially at the airport and the high-speed rail terminus in Hong Kong. Enhanced screening is necessary as Wuhan is a major transportation hub in central China and the provincial capital of Hubei province, Lee said.

Lee said the deputy director of the liaison office promised to pass on the message to the mainland forthwith.