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Coronavirus quarantine: what is it like in Singapore, the US and France, versus Hong Kong?
- From reheated fried rice and delivery burgers on military bases to volleyball games at seaside resorts, here’s a look at the lives of those under quarantine
- Protests have also broken out near quarantine facilities, as communities fear the spread of Covid-19
Reading Time:5 minutes
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Hundreds of people returning home to parts of Asia, the United States and Britain from the mainland Chinese province of Hubei and the coronavirus-stricken Diamond Princess cruise ship are facing an additional two weeks in government quarantine.
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Health authorities want to isolate them in case they end up testing positive for Covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, which has sickened over 80,000 people and claimed more than 2,700 lives, mostly in mainland China.
The conditions of their quarantine vary widely by country: those in Singapore are dining on reheated fried rice at government-owned holiday chalets while people quarantined in France have been given the run of a sunny seaside resort with volleyball games, art classes and a concierge service to help them organise laundry and even acquire their preferred brands of cigarettes.
Some have taken to social media to describe the monotony of life under quarantine or complain about their facilities, while others, like Ukranian citizen Julia Volok, who returned to Kiev after spending 18 months studying Chinese in Hubei, have said they are just relieved to be back home.
“Beet salad is a huge delight,” the 26-year-old told Reuters.
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Cameron Kaiser is the head of public health in Riverside County, California, and this month oversaw the successful quarantine of the first group of 195 Americans to return from Hubei, the epicentre of the contagion. He said US health officials tried to make conditions on military bases as similar as possible to normal life.
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