Penny's Bay Community Isolation Facility, formerly Penny's Bay Quarantine Centre, was a designated

quarantine A quarantine is a restriction on the movement of people, animals, and goods which is intended to prevent the spread of disease or pests. It is often used in connection to disease and illness, preventing the movement of those who may have bee ...

facility in

Penny's Bay Penny's Bay or Chok Ko Wan () is a bay in north-eastern Lantau Island, and had been a port since the Ming dynasty. The bay has since been reclaimed and is the site of the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, which consists of the Hong Kong Disneyland t ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The facility was run by the

Hong Kong Government The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (commonly known as the Hong Kong Government or HKSAR Government) is the Executive (government), executive authorities of Hong Kong. It was established on 1 July 1997, following the ...

. Throughout the

pandemic A pandemic ( ) is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has a sudden increase in cases and spreads across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. Widespread endemic (epi ...

, the isolation facility served more than 270,000 people, before eventually being closed on 1 March 2023.

History

Originally, the site was previously part of the

Hong Kong Disneyland Resort The Hong Kong Disneyland Resort is a resort built and owned by Hong Kong International Theme Parks Limited, a joint venture of the Government of Hong Kong and The Walt Disney Company in Hong Kong on reclaimed land beside Penny's Bay, at the n ...

, where a second theme park would have been constructed. However, following the outbreak of COVID-19 in Hong Kong, the quarantine centre was built on the site. Construction began in February 2020 with the centre being built by

China State Construction International Holdings China State Construction International Holdings Limited ("China State Construction" in short form) () is the largest construction contractor in Hong Kong, mostly from the projects in the government, public organisations and large private corp ...

, and Phase 1A was completed, on 17 April 2020. On 16 July 2020, the facility opened to house close contacts of those infected with

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

. In September 2021, the facility used 800 units to help house around 4000 domestic helpers. In February 2022, the facility was renamed "Penny's Bay Community Isolation Facility". On 1 March 2023, the facility was closed as COVID-19 restrictions were loosened.

Controversies

Tainted food

In 2021, Danny Catering Service, a

caterer Catering is the business of providing food services at a remote site or a site such as a hotel, hospital, pub, aircraft, cruise ship, park, festival, filming location or film studio. History of catering The earliest account of major service ...

for Penny's Bay Community Isolation Facility, was found to have been storing food at unsuitable temperatures after an inspection by the

Food and Environmental Hygiene Department The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) is a department of the Hong Kong Government, reporting to the Environment and Ecology Bureau. It is responsible for food hygiene and environmental hygiene. It replaced part of the role of ...

. In the same inspection, a tested food sample was found to be contaminated with

Bacillus cereus ''Bacillus cereus'' is a Gram-positive bacteria, Gram-positive Bacillus, rod-shaped bacterium commonly found in soil, food, and marine sponges. The specific name, ''cereus'', meaning "waxy" in Latin, refers to the appearance of colonies grown o ...

Poor logistics

Penny's Bay Community Isolation Facility was accused of poor

logistical Logistics is the part of supply chain management that deals with the efficient forward and reverse flow of goods, services, and related information from the point of origin to the point of consumption according to the needs of customers. Logi ...

planning, leading to reports of low-quality food, lack of medicine to treat

Covid-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

, and lack of

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by ...

, instead offering limited data sim cards. It was also reported that at times the facility's help hotline was out of service for long periods of time.

Suicide attempts

In 2022, it was reported that there were three attempted

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

s at the facility within 27 hours of each other.

References

Quarantine Quarantine facilities designated for the COVID-19 pandemic Quarantine facilities {{COVID-19-stub