Coronavirus: Hong Kong to close football stadiums

Hong Kong will close public facilities such as sports centers and campsites to contain the spread of the Coronavirus.

Hong Kong.- Authorities from Hong Kong have confirmed the closure of public facilities such as sports centres, campsites and museums in the fight against the Coronavirus Pneumonia outbreak that has left more than 100 dead across China.

All recreational facilities will be temporarily shut from Wednesday to “avoid people gathering”, authorities said.

Eight people in Hong Kong are known to be suffering from the illness. Of those, six arrived via a newly built high-speed train line that connects the city to the Chinese mainland.

Sports centres, grounds, swimming pools, beaches, campsites and cultural facilities including museums will all be close. The city’s Leisure and Cultural Services Department said events at these locations will be cancelled until further notice.

Officials have also announced that all schools will extend their Lunar New Year holiday to mid-February and civil servants have been told to work from home.

People travelling to the semi-autonomous city from Hubei province in central China — the epicentre of the outbreak — as well as any who have visited the virus-hit area in the last two weeks, are to be denied entry to Hong Kong from Monday.

But there are growing calls from some politicians and medical experts for a complete shutdown of the mainland border to those not from Hong Kong.

“The epidemic has spread to many Chinese provinces. Only blocking visitors from Hubei can’t do much to help Hong Kong,” pro-democracy lawmaker Helena Wong said on Tuesday.