Coronavirus: clock ticking for students trapped in Hubei desperate to sit university entrance exams in Hong Kong

While the government has announced plans to use chartered flights to return Hong Kong residents, there is still no time frame in place

Students unable to sit for exams will earn scores formulated based on their grades for the school year, though highest marks will be out of reach

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Students sit for the first day of the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) exams at Cheung Sha Wan Catholic Secondary School. Photo: Handout

Published: 8:00am, 26 Feb 2020Updated: 11:26pm, 26 Feb 2020

Tony Lau could be forced to give up his dream of becoming a doctor if he cannot get back to Hong Kong in time for the Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) university entrance exams – a very real possibility, given that he is trapped in Wuhan.

The 19-year-old DSE candidate, who agreed to be interviewed using a pseudonym, is among those urging the government to settle on an exact date for sending charter flights to rescue city residents in mainland China’s Hubei province, home to Wuhan and epicentre of the deadly coronavirus epidemic.

Hong Kong’s administration announced on Monday that they would send chartered flights to bring back about 2,700 residents scattered across 37 cities in Hubei, with about 450 in Wuhan scheduled for the first flight, though a time frame was not yet available.

“I feel helpless. Being stranded in Hubei for a month, the government had no concrete plans to bring us back,” Lau told the Post on Tuesday. “I’m also really worried about [getting infected], since Hubei province has many infected cases.”

A man wearing a face mask crosses an empty road in Wuhan, epicentre of the novel coronavirus outbreak, where hundreds of Hongkongers are now stranded. Photo: Reuters

Lau visited Wuhan with his father on January 22 to visit his 85-year-old grandmother during the Lunar New Year holiday, planning to stay for about a week. The day after they arrived, the city was placed on lockdown.