The Department of Health today announced that health quarantine arrangements on inbound travellers from overseas will be further extended in response to the latest global COVID-19 situation.

Following the Government's announcement of the Red Outbound Travel Alert (OTA) issued on Ireland, the UK and the US, the Department of Health will strengthen health quarantine arrangements on people arriving from these countries as well as Egypt, of which a red OTA is in force.

From midnight on March 19, the department's Port Health Division will issue compulsory home quarantine orders to people arriving in Hong Kong who have been to Ireland, the UK, the US and Egypt in the past 14 days, regardless of whether they are Hong Kong residents.

Meanwhile, quarantine measures announced earlier for people arriving in the city who have been to Korea, Iran, Hokkaido in Japan and the Schengen Area in Europe in the past 14 days remain unchanged.

In the past two weeks, 26 out of 46 confirmed cases of the virus in Hong Kong were imported cases, while seven other cases involved patients visiting places outside the city during part of the incubation period, the Government said.

It urged members of the public to avoid all non-essential travel.

If it is unavoidable to travel, people should wear surgical masks and continue to do so for 14 days upon their return to Hong Kong.