【明報專訊】IN VIEW OF the severity of a coronavirus outbreak on the Diamond Princess cruise ship moored off Yokohama, Japan, the Hong Kong government is preparing to arrange chartered flights for the evacuation of Hong Kong passengers who are not diagnosed with the disease as soon as possible. The governments of the US, Canada and other countries also have similar plans. With more than one tenth of the people on board the ship infected, Diamond Princess is now literally an infected area. Even if passengers leave the ship without any symptoms, they will still pose a high risk and should be quarantined again after coming back to Hong Kong. Hong Kong people stranded in infected areas are facing risky circumstances. The Hong Kong government has a responsibility to bring them back. In order to ensure proper isolation and quarantine, the city needs more quarantine centres. The setting up of "fever clinics", as suggested by an expert in the field, is also intended to enable more effective screening for suspected cases. Fighting an epidemic is like fighting a war, which ragtag bands are doomed to lose. All people must put the interests of the whole above individual ones and say no to the nimby attitude rather than practise discrimination in the name of epidemic prevention.