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Bloomberg
Hong Kong’s government will seek approval from the territory’s legislature for at least HK$25 billion ($3.2 billion) in fresh funding to reduce the impact of the coronavirus outbreak in the city, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said.
The amount includes measures to assist tour agencies, restaurants and students, as well as extra cash for the Hospital Authority. The government will also subsidise companies to produce face masks locally, Lam said.
The extra spending would almost equal that rolled out since last year in a bid to stem the economic fallout from the city’s political crisis, as it was hit by a series of anti-government protests. While the cash signals more determination from the government, which has faced criticism over its response to the virus, it will still have to be secured from the fractious Legislative Council.
“Yes, this is a pretty large sum of money, but we are facing an almost unprecedented situation,†Lam said.
The government has also obtained consent from Walt Disney Co’s Disneyland resort in the city to use part of its land for quarantine purposes, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Edward Yau said at a briefing.