Twenty-seven Hong Kong residents and some other Chinese nationals stranded in Morocco will leave for Guangzhou on Thursday night via a flight chartered by the Chinese Embassy in Morocco.
The evacuees will be placed under medical surveillance for two weeks after they arrive in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, on Friday at noon. They need to pay for their seats on this flight.
The evacuees will be placed under medical surveillance for two weeks after they arrive in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, on Friday at noon
Since mid-March, Morocco has suspended all international flights to and from its territory; it has shut its borders with neighboring countries as it battles to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, people stranded there cannot leave on their own.
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Hong Kong’s Immigration Department has received requests for assistance from 158 Hong Kong residents left unattended in Morocco, mostly in Casablanca and Marrakesh. Of these, 113 people managed to fly home, while another 18 said they would not take the chartered flight due to personal reasons.
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government has been working with overseas Chinese embassies and various airlines to bring home SAR residents stranded in other countries and regions.
READ MORE: Govt working to bring back HK residents from Peru, Morocco
Lawmaker Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, chairwoman of the New People’s Party, said on Friday the government should send a chartered flight to Mumbai, India, to collect Hong Kong residents there. She said the party had received “a batch of calls for help”.
