Refugee?

Tomoe called last night. Durnig the day she recieved a phone call from her
old roommate in England. Apparently the roommate was on the airplane on her
way to Osaka for some sight-seeing and wanted to know if she could stay with
Tomoe in her one-room apartment. Now, I'm all for opening your home to
someone, and I have a friend staying with me in my one-room, one-kitchen
apartment for two months... but...

Oh did I forget to mention the friend was on a plane from Hong Kong?

Is it still legal to leave Hong-Kong for pleasure? Maybe this is the start
of a flow of refugees, people who don't already have SARS getting the heck
out when they can.