Commuter anger marks end of quarantine
Updated: 2009-05-09 06:51
By Colleen Lee, Peggy Chan and Joyce Woo(HK Edition)
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HONG KONG: People who work in Wan Chai and in the shops around the Metropark Hotel found themselves exasperated and impatient by special traffic arrangements connected to the flu-quarantine as they headed home for the week-end.
The quarantine order ended at 8:30 pm Friday, but special traffic arrangements were put in place four hours earlier. Parts of Hennessy Road, Fenwick Street and Lockhart Road were closed. Some 40 bus routes were diverted.
Taxi driver Kwok Fai-leung complained that the road closure was too long.
"Why were the roads closed since 4:30 pm when the people are to be released four hours later? No driver will get there tonight," he said.
Ivan Chanidze, who wanted to go to a bar from Hennessy Road, also found the road baffling.
"I am confused. I don't know how to get to the bar now," he said.
But Louie Wong, who works in Wan Chai, thought it was all okay.
"I don't find it a big trouble. Normally the traffic is congested on Friday," she said. "And I am glad that the guests locked inside the hotel will have their freedom back."
Some people decided to take the MTR to go home. But a lady said the MTR could not help her.
"The MTR cannot reach my home. It is a trouble," she said.
Shops owners near the hotel declared the government should compensate them because their business had suffered badly under the quarantine.
The owner of a noodle shop in Hennessy Road, surnamed Law, said her business had fallen 90 percent since the hotel was cordoned off.
"Normally I made HK$10,000 in sales each day. But I only got HK$1,000 a day over the past week. Over 70 percent of my customers are office workers and hotel tourists," she said.
Law closed her shop from Saturday afternoon until Tuesday. She closed it again yesterday afternoon, expecting the road closure would adversely affect her business.
"I hope that there will be compensation," she said.
Mr Lo, who operates a satay restaurant, said he lost about HK$100,000 over the week. He closed his shop from Sunday to Tuesday.
"Before the quarantine, there was always a long queue of customers in front of my shop," he said. "I have been running the shop for nine years, and the impact this time is worse than that of SARS six years ago."
Stephen Kam, owner of Galaxy Club and Disco, said business had dropped by 70 percent. Kam was also worried that the business might not return even after the hotel is re-opened.
"Some people are still scared by the spread of the virus, and they have gone to the bars in other districts. They may not come back," he said.
However, the owner of Dog House on Lockhart Road said his business was not significantly affected and he still managed about HK$3,000 in sales each day.
"The reason is that I have more takeaway orders for guests staying inside the hotel," the owner who only gave his name as James said.
(HK Edition 05/09/2009 page4)