Four chartered flights will be commissioned on March 25 and 26 to bring back Hong Kong residents stranded in Hubei Province, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government announced today.

There will be adjustments to the operational plan, including requiring Hong Kong residents who return from other areas in Hubei except Wuhan be put under home quarantine for 14 days, and excluding new Wuhan assistance cases from the operation.

The adjustments to this second operation were made after careful scrutiny of the Mainland's COVID-19 situation and the latest situation in Hong Kong, as well as weighing up the local public health risks.

The aim is to ensure that Hong Kong's preventive and medical systems would have adequate capacity to deal with the epidemic situation.

All preventive measures implemented for the first operation, including health assessments, verification of confirmed cases by the Hubei provincial government for Hong Kong people taking the chartered flights, and multiple temperature checks before boarding, shall continue.

Those who have a fever, or develop abnormal vital signs or symptoms of respiratory or other infectious diseases will not be allowed to board the flights.

Meanwhile, as Wuhan is still classified by the local authorities as a high-risk area, on expert advice, those returning from Wuhan will be required to undergo 14 days of quarantine at the quarantine centres.

The operation this time will not cater for new assistance cases in Wuhan.

The Economic & Trade Office of the Hong Kong SAR Government in Wuhan will continue to maintain close contact with Hong Kong residents requesting assistance in Wuhan, and will strive to provide it to them as far as practicable.