Moroccans keep distance from each other as they wait outside a supermarket in the capital Rabat on April 9, 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. (FADEL SENNA / AFP)

HONG KONG - Twenty-seven Hong Kong residents who had been stranded in Morocco arrived in Guangzhou at noon on Friday on a chartered flight arranged by the Chinese Embassy in Morocco. They were among other mainland residents flown back to Guangdong province.

READ MORE: 146 HK people stranded in Morocco seek help

The 27 Hong Kong residents will return to the special administrative region by coach after providing specimens for nucleic acid tests at the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, according to a statement issued by the Hong Kong government on Friday.

Also on Friday, the last person among the over 70 Hong Kong residents who had contracted COVID-19 aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan returned to Hong Kong after being hospitalized in Japan

They will also be required to go through temperature screening and submit health declaration forms when entering Hong Kong, where they will be sent directly to the AsiaWorld-Expo, a makeshift testing center, for COVID-19 tests.

Those who test positive will be sent to hospitals directly. Their close contacts, even if they test negative, will need to be quarantined for 14-day in designated government centers, according to the statement.

Those who test negative will need to self-isolate at home for two weeks.

Another 18 Hong Kong residents are still in Morocco of their own will. The SAR government will continue to assist them and provide adequate supports to return the city through other ways. 

The chartered flight took off on Thursday from Casablanca, the largest city of Morocco, which has been practically in lockdown before mid-March. The fees for the chartered flight is sponsored by the stranded.

ALSO READ: 27 HK residents stranded in Morocco to leave for Guangzhou

Also on Friday, the last person among the over 70 Hong Kong residents who had contracted COVID-19 aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan in early February returned to Hong Kong after being hospitalized in Japan.

Some of the about 110 members the Hong Kong government team dispatched to assist the patients in Japan have also returned to the city Friday.

In late-February, the government chartered several flights to bring home a total of 193 Hong Kong passengers on the cruise ship.