NPR: In Hong Kong 12,000 people “are under mandatory home quarantine after being diagnosed with COVID-19”

It is important to note that the use of the word “diagnosed” may not, likely does not mean these patients have been tested and confirmed as being infected with the Wuhan virus. If these Hong Kongers home quarantined were tested and confirmed to have the virus, then the global totals of confirmed infected would be much higher.

Therefore, it is still unclear how many of these 12,000 have the virus.

How long will it take to find out? Some infected show symptoms in two days, most after five days, but some not for 14 days.

From NPR:

As if the health department didn’t have enough extra work trying to chase down potential contacts of confirmed cases, it’s also overseeing nearly 12,000 people who are under mandatory home quarantine after being diagnosed with COVID-19.

In addition to the locked quarantine centers like the public housing towers holding high-risk individuals, like the evacuees from the Diamond Princess, Hong Kong also has a home quarantine program for people considered at lower risk of infection — for instance, people who had been in mainland China but were not in contact with a COVID-19 patient. Currently there are nearly 12,000 people in the city confined to their homes, most of them Hong Kong residents recently returned from China. The Health Department monitors them by video calls and tracks their cellphones for 14 days.