Nasal spray #Covid-19 vaccine co-developed by Hong Kong scientists approved for emergency use in mainland China in ‘historic breakthrough’ | South China Morning Post
▻https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3202179/nasal-spray-covid-19-vaccine-co-developed-hong-kong-scientists-approved-emerge
Yuen said the nasal vaccine would serve as a complement to, but not as a replacement for, conventional vaccination.
Hong Kong can only fully reopen borders if Covid-19 vaccination rate improves, finance chief says | South China Morning Post
▻https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3192122/hong-kong-can-only-fully-reopen-borders-if-citys
Hong Kong can only fully reopen borders if Covid-19 vaccination rate improves, finance chief says. ‘It has been extremely challenging to strike a balance between curbing the pandemic and facilitating travel, while preserving the economy’, Paul Chan says Pandemic adviser to government predicts infections spread by more transmissible variants will peak in coming week
Updated: 11:19pm, 11 Sep, 2022
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Hong Kong can fully reopen to the world only if its Covid-19 vaccination rate improves further, the city’s finance chief has said, crediting effective pandemic control as the “fundamental stabilising force” of the local economy.Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po struck a cautious note on Sunday even as health officials reported the possible start of a downward trend in daily cases, and a pandemic adviser to the government predicted infections spread by more transmissible variants would peak in the coming week.“It has been extremely challenging to strike a balance between curbing the pandemic and facilitating travel, while preserving the economy,” Chan wrote on his official blog. “Only with concerted efforts to further expand the vaccination scheme will we have more leeway to resume international travel, stabilising the economy and restarting the impetus for growth to the greatest extent possible.”
According to the government, 93 per cent of residents have taken a first vaccine shot, and 91 per cent have received a second, while 74 per cent have completed all three. But the rate for residents aged 80 or above remains just 67 per cent for two shots and a mere 51 per cent for three.
Authorities have struggled to get those numbers up as infections have rebounded in recent weeks. Health officials on Sunday confirmed 9,033 new cases, of which 129 were imported, and 11 more deaths related to the virus. The city’s Covid-19 tally stood at 1,651,974, with 9,799 fatalities.
Professor Lau Yu-lung, chair professor of paediatrics at the University of Hong Kong and who advises the government on the pandemic, forecast new infections would crest in the next three to seven days after plateauing at about 10,000 in the past week.The viral load in sewage had also shown signs of flattening, while the number of infected patients being treated in hospital between Thursday and Saturday had declined, he noted.
“There might be a small rebound after the three-day holiday,” Lau said, adding that as long as residents adhered to social-distancing measures, the public had no cause for concern.
If the vaccination rate among the elderly and those under five years of age both reached at least 80 per cent, the government might consider laying out a timeline for easing pandemic curbs, he suggested, predicting that could happen in November.The government last week announced the vaccine pass scheme restricting access to most public places would be expanded to require children as young as five be inoculated with at least one jab by September 30 and two shots by the end of November.
Vaccine pass for kids from 5: what Hong Kong parents should know
11 Sep 2022. As of Sunday, 2,711 Covid-19 patients were in hospital, including 54 in critical condition and 57 in a serious one. Hospital Authority Chief Manager Dr Larry Lee Lap-yip described the patient numbers as having “stabilised”.But the number of elderly sent to the makeshift treatment facility at AsiaWorld-Expo continued to rise, Lee noted, adding a plan to increase bed capacity from 240 to 280 after the holiday remained.
“We dare not to let our guard down because based on our experience, changes, growth or declines in the pandemic can happen rapidly,” he said.
Reacting to Chan’s blog entry, Travel Industry Council chairwoman Gianna Hsu Wong Mei-lun expressed hope that the government would provide a road map to further relax the “3+4” policy that requires arrivals to spend three days in hotel quarantine and four more monitoring their health at home.“Any quarantine measure is an obstacle to revitalise local tourism”, Hsu said, adding the current administration had always maintained that any easing of the rule would be based on scientific data on infection numbers but stopped short of stating what numbers would be acceptable or how a lower figure could be achieved.“When people travel, they need to tour around and enjoy the food. That’s how travelling should be. But if they have an amber code, even if the quarantine is cut to ‘0+7’ or even ‘0+3’, there is no way you could attract inbound travellers with such restrictions,” she said, referring to the vaccine pass QR code given to travellers upon arrival.
Ray Chui Man-wai, chairman of the food and beverage industry group Institute of Dining Art, said the strategies the government had adopted to tackle the pandemic were “problematic”, noting the government had failed to set a target vaccination rate.“.
Separately, authorities also made a change to the English-language version of information for people who tested positive posted on the website of the Centre for Health Protection. It now stated that anyone who tested positive using a rapid antigen test (RAT) “have to” report the results instead of only “can” report them.But Chuang clarified that reporting positive RAT cases was “not yet compulsory by law at the moment”.“[But] we would like the people to report so we don’t want them to feel like it’s optional,” she said.
#Covid-19#migrant#migration#sante#honkong#pandemie#vaccination#frontiere#circulation#economie#quarantaine#test
Covid-19 patients under home quarantine to wear tracking wristbands from July 15, Hong Kong health minister says; city logs 2,863 infections | South China Morning Post
▻https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3184846/coronavirus-hong-kong-covid-19-app-update-will
Covid-19 patients under home quarantine to wear tracking wristbands from July 15, Hong Kong health minister says; city logs 2,863 infections
Health chief Professor Lo Chung-mau also says government is studying to turn part of seven-day hotel quarantine into home isolation. Lo earlier unveiled plans for online bookings for Covid tests for travellers heading to mainland China.All Covid-19 patients under home quarantine will be required to wear tracking wristbands starting from Friday, Hong Kong’s health minister has announced, while revealing the government is preparing for a worst-case scenario as infection numbers rebound.The new plans came as the city recorded 2,863 cases, including 252 imported ones. Seven additional deaths were reported. Hong Kong’s overall coronavirus tally stands at 1,273,663 infections, with 9,419 related fatalities.Secretary of Health Professor Lo Chung-mau also said the government was studying to turn part of the seven-day hotel quarantine for arrivals from overseas into home isolation, to be conducted in a closed-loop arrangement.Lo announced the measures hours after he unveiled plans to allow online bookings for Covid-19 tests for travellers heading to mainland China via the Shenzhen Bay Port and expand the screening quota, apologising for long queues after people earlier swamped the border crossing.To tackle a backlog of nucleic acid tests at the border checkpoint, Lo said a booking system would be able to process 400 people per hour, with a peak of 500. He said the maximum daily capacity for tests would be raised to 2,500 from 1,300 with the company conducting them more than doubling screening machines from 23 to 47.“On Sunday morning, within three hours, about 1,200 people were crossing at the same time, so this created long queues,” Lo said. Shenzhen Bay Port, one of just two land passenger crossings that remain open amid the pandemic, was packed with crowds over the weekend after the Guangdong provincial city boosted the number of quarantine hotel rooms by 700 to 2,000 a day and added more spots for those in need.Earlier in the day, Lo shed some light on planned updates to the “Leave Home Safe” app, saying the aim was to enforce quarantine orders for those at home, adding that currently there was no way to ensure infected residents could not visit high-risk locations such as restaurants, hospitals and care homes.
Lo, who first revealed officials were considering adjusting the “Leave Home Safe” app to require real-name registration a day earlier, stressed authorities were primarily considering a red health code for those who were found to be positive in nucleic acid tests, while real-name registration would make it easier to quarantine those infected.He also said a yellow health code, for example, could be used for overseas arrivals who were quarantining at home, as potentially they could be infected with Covid-19.
“These are people who shouldn’t enter high-risk locations but can go to work point to point,” he said. Macau closes the Grand Lisboa, the first casino shuttered in the Covid-19 pandemicThe mainland uses a three-colour system, which indicates a person’s Covid-19 status via QR codes.
The mainland’s health code app is used to track and contain patients by providing central authorities with user data such as locations, times and personal interactions.The QR codes generated follow a traffic-light system, with the colours affecting where residents can go and how they are treated: a green code declares a resident has not been exposed to any potential cases or risky areas, while yellow and red codes mean they are of higher risk.In December last year, Hong Kong launched a health code system which is built into the “Leave Home Safe” app and compatible with the mainland’s for people who travel across the border.The new health secretary on Monday addressed concerns that the planned updates would allow people’s movements to be traced, saying their main purpose was to identify high-risk individuals and not “track” them down.Some technology experts noted the “Leave Home Safe” app already contained certain personal details such as vaccine records, which included the user’ name and Hong Kong identity card number.While Lo did not give any more details about the planned update, he said the government was now looking at how to define which cases fell under red, yellow or green codes.‘Faster, daily Covid PCR tests could replace Hong Kong hotel quarantine’
9 Jul 2022 He also did not give a timetable for the change, but said authorities hoped to bring them in as soon as possible, with the government already looking at how to make the updates. University of Hong Kong microbiologist Dr Ho Pak-leung told the same programme the government’s goals of minimising infected people’s mobility could theoretically be achieved by suspending their vaccine pass, as it was needed to enter any high-risk venues and operators were required to scan it.
He also said he believed contact tracing should not be the city’s main concern right now. That was because of the large number of infections and a relatively high percentage of cases of unknown origin in the community.
#Covid-19#migrant#migration#hongkong#chine#zerocovid#depistage#passevaccinal#QRCode#hotel#quarantaine#casimporte#testPCR#vaccination#mobilite#frontiere
Hong Kong residents crossing border at Shenzhen Bay Port can soon book Covid-19 tests online as eager travellers throng checkpoint | South China Morning Post
▻https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/3184784/hong-kong-residents-crossing-border-shenzhen-bay-port-can-soon-book
Hong Kong residents crossing border at Shenzhen Bay Port can soon book Covid-19 tests online as eager travellers throng checkpoint.New system is aimed at easing crowding at the crossing point as travellers head to mainland China. Traffic has intensified after the Shenzhen government increased quota of quarantine hotel rooms
Hong Kong is set to allow travellers heading to mainland China through Shenzhen Bay Port to book Covid-19 tests online as residents continue to swamp the checkpoint and ignore the government’s advice to delay trips over the border.Shenzhen authorities also announced on Sunday a new measure to crack down on scalping of quarantine hotel rooms by allocating them through drawing lots following discussions with the Hong Kong government.Shenzhen Bay Port, one of just two land passenger crossings that remain open amid the pandemic, has been packed with crowds in the morning over the weekend after the Guangdong provincial city boosted the number of quarantine hotel rooms by 700 to 2,000 a day and added additional spots for those in need.
As seen during a Post visit on Sunday, queues snaked outside the checkpoint as hundreds of travellers from Hong Kong waited to undergo the required nucleic acid test before crossing.Planning to visit his relatives on the mainland, Yuen said the Shenzhen government should have made more quarantine hotel rooms available.The 2,000 a day is definitely not enough,” he said. “Residents need to go to Shenzhen. But the issue of quarantine hotel rooms should be addressed first. I was lucky to lock in my booking early on.”Alan Wong, a 49-year-old construction company manager, was unable to book a quarantine hotel room in Shenzhen and his company paid a scalper 2,300 yuan (US$293) to secure a reservation one week in advance.
Wong said that while it was fairer to use the quota system, the chances of failing to get a hotel room created too many uncertainties for people who needed to do business.“It’s just like waiting for the results of the Mark Six or a Home Ownership Scheme ballot. You’ll never know until the last minute,” Wong said.Secretary for Health Dr Lo Chung-mau visited the checkpoint in the afternoon. Earlier in the day, Lo explained in a TV interview that quarantine-free travel with the mainland remained unfeasible at the moment, as allowing it would require a significant change to the nation’s anti-pandemic policies. Lo added that Hong Kong residents needed to follow the mainland’s requirements when travelling there.
‘Faster, daily Covid PCR tests could replace Hong Kong hotel quarantine’
9 Jul 2022
A Hong Kong government spokesman said travellers would need to wait for about three hours to receive their Covid-19 test result at the control point and urged them to cross the boundary in the afternoon to avoid the morning rush.Under the coming booking arrangement, which is expected to be ready in a week, travellers must obtain a spot at a Shenzhen quarantine hotel and reserve a time for the Covid-19 test at the border crossing on the day of departure.Hongkongers hoping to travel across the border previously needed to book a room at a quarantine hotel through a government website on a first-come, first-served basis. But to combat the scalping, the Shenzhen government would allocate rooms to travellers by drawing lots, taking into consideration supply and demand, as well as the travel history of the applicant, authorities said. A traveller can only make one booking for the same date and results will be announced at 8pm daily.Society for Community Organisation deputy director Sze Lai-shan said: “The problem now is not much about online booking or queuing at the control point, but more about insufficient hotel rooms for quarantine on the Shenzhen side.
“The online booking thing is a crowd management measure. It does not mean more people can go to the mainland unless the Shenzhen side makes more quarantine hotel rooms available to meet demand.”Legislator Edward Leung Hei, of the Beijing-friendly Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, urged the government to increase shuttle bus services for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge to allow more visitors to enter the mainland using that access point.
#Covid-19#migrant#migration#hongkong#chine#shenzen#frontiere#circulationtransfrontalière#quarantaine#hotel#sante
Hong Kong considers Covid health code system similar to mainland China, city logs 2,992 infections | South China Morning Post
▻https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3184763/hong-kong-mulls-coronavirus-code-system-similar
Hong Kong considers Covid health code system similar to mainland China, city logs 2,992 infections. Secretary for Health Dr Lo Chung-mau says proposed measure would prevent freedoms of uninfected residents from being affected by Covid-positive people. Lack of protection of individual privacy and sensitive information with code remains concern among public, says Democratic Party spokesman Ramon Yuen
Hong Kong may adjust its Covid-19 app to require real-name registration as mainland China does to ensure residents subject to compulsory testing orders avoid entering high-risk areas, the city’s new health minister has said. But Secretary for Health Dr Lo Chung-mau on Sunday brushed aside concerns that the proposed measure would be unpopular with Hongkongers, arguing it would enhance the freedoms of uninfected residents. Lo said the measure was justified, given the government was seeking to avoid tightening social-distancing measures.“[If] we can’t find infected people or can’t quarantine them on time, we end up ‘quarantining’ people who are negative. We hope we don’t have to do this,” he said.
Health officials on Sunday reported 2,992 new Covid-19 cases, including 219 imported ones, and two additional deaths. The city’s overall coronavirus tally stands at 1,270,800 infections and 9,412 related fatalities.
Commissioner of Customs and Excise Louise Ho Pui-shan was placed under quarantine after one of her colleagues tested preliminary-positive, although her own test came back negative. Meanwhile, the health minister said there were limitations to the city’s “Leave Home Safe” contact-tracing app, which could not prevent coronavirus-positive people from accessing public areas or inform residents they were entering high-risk locations. While he noted that adding a tracking function was “not the first thing to do”, Lo said he believed it was more important for residents to register their real names to use the app.“[The app] is currently limited to telling whether a person is considered to be high-risk, and that they are not supposed to go to higher-risk areas before they do PCR [polymerase chain reaction] testing,” he said.
Lo added that the current compulsory testing order, despite its name, had “no coercive means at all”, making it unfair for residents as high-risk people could still roam around the city without detection.
When asked whether the potential measure could have any similarities to the health code systems used by Macau and the mainland, Lo replied that the Hong Kong government had taken both into consideration as a part of the proposal.The mainland’s health code app is used to track and contain Covid-19 patients by providing central authorities with user data such as locations, times and personal interactions.The QR codes generally follow a traffic-light system, with the colours affecting where residents can go and how they are treated: a green code declares a resident has not been exposed to any potential cases or risky areas, while yellow and red codes mean they are of higher risk.Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Centre for Health Protection’s communicable disease branch, said she had no comment about Lo’s proposal and that the government would make relevant announcements when it was ready.But she acknowledged the contact-tracing app had limitations and said there were no estimate on the number of infected people who had not reported their positive case to authorities.Although the app had residents’ phone numbers, authorities could still face difficulties in reaching some people for contact-tracing purposes if they did not answer the calls, Chuang said.The centre also had to rely on other government departments to obtain residents’ vaccine pass information whenever there was an outbreak, as it did not have access to such details, she added.She said the centre did not have any information on the number of visitors at particular premises if no infections were reported there.“Macau adopted the mainland-like code system but still suffered an outbreak recently. After all, measures on social distancing and quarantine are still key to controlling the spread, especially in cities that have not reached herd immunity,” he said.Leung added that the proportion of the population in both cities that was immune to the virus due to vaccination or prior infection was still low compared with other places. If Hong Kong implemented the mainland’s app functions, it was crucial to reduce the time needed to synchronise the compulsory testing orders with residents’ phones, otherwise it would be futile if there were delays that lasted for days, he added.Ramon Yuen Hoi-man, the Democratic Party’s healthcare policy spokesman, said the lack of protection of individual privacy and sensitive information with the code system remained a concern among the public.He added that he was worried about the implications of introducing new restrictive measures after the fifth wave of infections had already subsided.“Overseas research has shown that stringent Covid-19 measures have been unfavourable to social harmony and unity. Is this something the new government really hopes to pursue?” he said.Medical and health services lawmaker Dr David Lam Tzit-yuen said privacy issues were not a concern as long as authorities were restricted to tracking a person’s identity and other personal information only if they were deemed to be at risk.“[The code system] is the way to go for better protecting the community. Privacy issues, which could be solved by the right algorithms, should not trump safety of others,” he said.Health minister Lo also said he planned to increase the frequency of PCR tests and require high-risk people, such as employees of nursing homes, to undergo such screening once a week, on top of rapid antigen tests, before increasing it to twice a week or every 48 hours.The new administration led by Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu has repeatedly stressed the importance of using PCR tests at an earlier stage more effectively, which it said would exclude people who were not infected from tough restrictions.
#Covid-19#migrant#migration#sante#hongkong#macau#chine#QRcode#controlesanitaire#politiquesanitaire#depistage#zerocovid#testPCR#restrictionsanitaire#surveillance
Mainland Chinese care worker at Covid-19 holding centre found dead in Hong Kong hotel | South China Morning Post
▻https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3175860/mainland-chinese-care-worker-covid-19-holding-centre
Coronavirus Hong Kong
Mainland Chinese care worker at Covid-19 holding centre found dead in Hong Kong hotel. A woman who came to Hong Kong from mainland China to look after elderly coronavirus patients as a temporary care worker at a holding centre was found dead in her hotel room on Thursday.
According to police, emergency personnel were called to B P International hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui at about 1.30pm after the woman was found unconscious.A force spokesman said she was certified dead at the scene by paramedics.The Social Welfare Department confirmed on the same day that the woman was one of about 760 care workers temporarily hired from the mainland to look after infected elderly residents in the city’s holding centres. It said she arrived in Hong Kong in March.
A spokesman for the department said it was saddened to learn of the death and had contacted the woman’s family to help arrange her affairs. He added there were no further details as the case was being investigated by police.
Actor’s death in quarantine sparks call for review, Hong Kong logs 413
The Post has learned that the woman was Zhang Xiu, aged 50, who came to Hong Kong from Guangxi province.A source said Zhang had told her colleagues on Thursday morning that she was feeling unwell.He said Zhang’s colleagues had visited her hotel after she failed to report for duty. Staff helped them access the room after they received no answer from her and found the 50-year-old unconscious in the bathroom, the source added.
She had stayed in the hotel since March 7 and worked at the Choi Wing Road Sports Centre in Kwun Tong, which had been turned into a holding centre for elderly coronavirus patients, according to another source.
The residential care industry has been considered one of the hardest-hit sectors by the city’s fifth wave of infections, with hundreds of facilities having previously reported outbreaks among staff and residents.
Welfare sector urges John Lee to better support care homes for elderly
26 Apr 2022On March 1, the Social Welfare Department announced it planned to hire 1,000 staff from the mainland to fulfil roles for three months at holding centres, community isolation facilities and quarantine camps to care for elderly residents, people with disabilities and other potential or confirmed cases.Secretary for Labour and Welfare Law Chi-kwong revealed at the time that some care homes had seen almost all their staff and residents infected, adding that the industry was facing a manpower shortage as more employees either caught Covid-19 or had to be quarantined.
The workers can earn as much as HK$31,000 (US$3,970) a month if they are willing to take care of residents in isolation. Staff are expected to provide basic nursing care such as feeding elderly patients who are confined to their beds.Both Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and operators of care homes had previously said the recruitment process had faced challenges as candidates were concerned about Hong Kong’s Covid-19 outbreak. The lockdowns across the border also presented complications.
#Covid-19#migrant#migration#chine#hongkong#sante#zerocovid#travailleurmigrant#vaccination#isolement#frontiere#confinement
Coronavirus: Hong Kong confirms 6,646 new cases as government considers mass at-home testing exercise to help ‘gauge infection situation’ | South China Morning Post
▻https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3172549/coronavirus-hong-kong-government-considering-mass
Coronavirus: Hong Kong confirms 6,646 new cases as government considers mass at-home testing exercise to help ‘gauge infection situation’
A source says the mass at-home testing will serve as a ‘voluntary and supplementary’ measure, and will not replace an official universal screening exercise
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Published: 3:06pm, 31 Mar, 2022
Updated: 5:23pm, 31 Mar, 2022
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Volunteers pack kits of rapid Covid-19 tests, masks and medicine set to be distributed to Hong Kong residents at Tai Wo Hau Sports Centre. Photo: Dickson Lee
Volunteers pack kits of rapid Covid-19 tests, masks and medicine set to be distributed to Hong Kong residents at Tai Wo Hau Sports Centre. Photo: Dickson Lee
Hong Kong residents may be asked to take part in mass at-home Covid-19 testing via kits set to be distributed from Saturday in order to help the government better gauge the current epidemic situation, the city’s leader has said.Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor floated the possibility at her regular coronavirus press conference on Thursday after being asked whether the government still planned to pursue a controversial compulsory universal testing drive.“Since we are distributing rapid antigen tests in the anti-epidemic service bags, we would like to explore whether we can make use of this convenient and accurate tool … so that we can gauge the infection situation,” Lam said, referring to packs of supplies and medicine that will be handed out to all Hong Kong residents.Lam added that the current daily caseload, though on the decline, was still too high to conduct universal screening via government-run testing sites, noting the healthcare system was unlikely to be able to cope with the new infections the exercise might uncover.The city confirmed 6,646 new coronavirus infections on Thursday, the sixth consecutive day the caseload was below the 10,000 mark. Another 119 deaths were reported, including 17 fatalities that had not been taken into account due to a backlog.
The overall tally of confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic stands at 1,157,415, while the total number of related deaths has reached 7,825.
The government will begin distributing the anti-epidemic service bags – containing 20 rapid tests, 20 KN95 masks and two boxes of proprietary traditional Chinese medicine – to nearly 3 million households on Saturday. Lam said it would take about a week to hand out all the packages.
Details of the proposed mass rapid testing exercise would be announced if and when the plans were confirmed, Lam added.A source said the mass rapid testing, which would be undertaken by residents on a single day, would serve as a “voluntary and supplementary” measure, and would not replace the universal screening exercise. The source noted that experts had suggested the best time for the universal screening would be when daily caseloads were consistently in the three-digit range.
The government announced a suspension of the universal screening exercise on March 21. Lam said mainland Chinese and Hong Kong experts had concluded that public resources should not be spent on such an exercise when the daily caseload remained high. Instead, it should be carried out towards the end of the current fifth wave of infections.Lam later told lawmakers she did not have a crystal ball to predict when the testing could be rolled out.Jack Chan Jick-chi, acting secretary for home affairs, told a radio programme on Thursday that each Hong Kong household would be entitled to one package of supplies, assuming it had three to four members, while larger ones would be allowed to collect additional kits as needed. Special arrangements would be made for people sharing living spaces in subdivided units.He added that volunteers and civil servants deployed to package and distribute the kits would be required to be vaccinated and to conduct rapid Covid-19 tests before performing their duties.
At Thursday’s press conference, Lam also said Covid-19 patients from elderly care homes with mild or no symptoms could be sent directly to government isolation centres rather than the emergency wards of public hospitals. The move was aimed at relieving pressure on the city’s overburdened public healthcare system.Among the six isolation facilities, the Kai Tak Holding Centre is the largest, with 1,200 beds. All the facilities are able to prescribe the oral anti-Covid drugs molnupiravir and Paxlovid.
Traditional Chinese medicine practitioners dispatched from the mainland would also be on hand to treat symptoms and facilitate patients’ recovery, Lam said.Meanwhile, the city will lift flight bans on nine high-risk countries on Friday to allow fully vaccinated Hong Kong residents to return. The quarantine period for arrivals to the city will also be slashed from two weeks to one, provided they test negative on their sixth and seventh days of isolation.Lam said on Thursday that an interdepartmental meeting would be conducted to ensure that testing and transport for new arrivals went smoothly, after noting the day before that the number of incoming travellers was expected to jump from around 300 a day to some 2,000.
“We have made full preparations for their return, we hope they have a pleasant trip back to Hong Kong,” she said.
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Coronavirus: Hong Kong shuts public beaches amid Covid-19 surge, but frustrated residents ask: why can’t we swim and relax? | South China Morning Post
▻https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3170833/why-not-let-us-swim-and-relax-frustrated
Coronavirus: Hong Kong shuts public beaches amid Covid-19 surge, but frustrated residents ask: why can’t we swim and relax?Government closes all public beaches amid outcry from mainland Chinese online users over social-distancing measures perceived as lax Residents react with mixed emotions, with one restaurant manager urging authorities to give clear deadline to allow businesses to adjust
Residents have expressed their frustration at a decision by Hong Kong authorities to close all public beaches amid a Covid-19 outbreak, while some have called it necessary as a result of frequent social-distancing violations.On Wednesday, the government announced that all public beaches would close from Thursday until further notice to reduce social gatherings and the risk of virus transmission. The measure kicked in as the city confirmed 21,650 new coronavirus cases.A source had said the decision followed the circulation of posts on Chinese social media platforms Weibo and WeChat which compared scenes of Shenzhen’s empty streets and closed subway stations with Hong Kong’s crowded beaches and malls.
The posts went viral among mainland online users, who criticised Hong Kong’s looser social-distancing measures, contrasting these with the lockdown across the border. They blamed Hongkongers for contributing to the surge in cases on the mainland.
#Covid-19#migration#migrant#chine#hongkong#sante#frontiere#zerocovid#restrictionsanitaire#circulation#politiquesante
Coronavirus Hong Kong: use mainland Chinese help well, plan for next stage of battle and ensure social stability, top Beijing official tells local government | South China Morning Post
▻https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3170759/coronavirus-hong-kong-use-mainland-chinese-help
Coronavirus Hong Kong: use mainland Chinese help well, plan for next stage of battle and ensure social stability, top Beijing official tells local governmentHong Kong and Macau Affairs Office director Xia Baolong says city still facing uphill battle against pandemic. At high-level meeting in Shenzhen, he calls on local administration to plan for next phase of crisis, with focus on ‘three reductions’, referring to infections, severe cases and deaths
Hong Kong’s government should distribute aid from the central government properly and plan for the next stage of the Covid-19 pandemic in an orderly way, a top Beijing official has told a high-level meeting in Shenzhen on the health crisis facing the financial hub. Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office (HKMAO) director Xia Baolong also emphasised the need for local officials to safeguard social stability, according to the Hong Kong China News Agency. He was chairing the meeting on Wednesday after flying back to Shenzhen from the capital where he attended the annual “two sessions” of the nation’s parliament and top advisory body.Lau Siu-kai, vice-president of semi-official Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies think tank, said Beijing believed reforms were needed after the pandemic was under control, such as improving the government’s managerial abilities and the leadership capabilities of the executive branch.It was the ninth meeting of the tripartite coordination task force, involving Hong Kong and mainland officials, and the second in less than a week, with the last one taking place on March 11.Xia said in the latest meeting that the current epidemic situation in the city was still serious and the fight against the virus has remained an uphill battle.
During the meeting, he also spoke via video link with teams sent to assist Hong Kong and called on the local government to speed up the distribution of Chinese medicine, boost the occupancy rate of isolation facilities and make good use of the medical professionals sent from the mainland.
Xia went on to instruct the local administration to plan ahead for the next phase of the outbreak, focusing on the strategy of “three reductions, three focuses and one priority”.The first element refers to reducing infections, severe cases and deaths. The second involves three specific areas of focus: boosting vaccinations among the elderly and enforcing closed-loop staffing arrangements in care homes; strengthening the work of clinics, hospitals and isolation facilities; and identifying high-risk premises for children, seniors and the disabled, and stepping up protections there.
Think tank vice-president Lau said Xia’s remarks not only focused on offering guidance and supervision, but also showed that Beijing would hold Hong Kong’s government accountable for failing to control the epidemic.
“There is a need for improvement of our health care system and formulating contingency plans within the government on how to deal with such kinds of crisis.”Central authorities would look at improving the local government’s managerial abilities and its executive role, Lau said, adding the city needed to “prepare well for any upcoming sixth or seventh waves”.
Lau suggested it was very rare that Beijing had to be so “hands-on” on Hong Kong’s issues, calling it proof that the city government’s poor handling of the outbreak had already greatly affected national interests.
#Covid-19#migrant#migration#chine#macau#hongkong#pekin#sante#zerocovid#politique#retsrictionsanitaire#shenzen#pandemie
Coronavirus: domestic helper shortage continues to plague Hong Kong as number of such workers hits new low | South China Morning Post
▻https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3165291/coronavirus-domestic-helper-shortage-continues-plague-hong
Coronavirus: domestic helper shortage continues to plague Hong Kong as number of such workers hits new low
Secretary for Labour and Welfare Law Chi-kwong says flight bans as a result of Omicron outbreak cancelled out efforts to make more quarantine facilities available. Number of domestic helpers in city has dropped to 339,451 by the end of December from about 400,000 in January 2020
The number of domestic helpers in Hong Kong has fallen to 339,451 by the end of December, according to labour chief Law Chi-kwong. Photo: Nora Tam. Hong Kong families struggling amid a shortage of domestic helpers have yet to see the light at the end of the tunnel, after the number of such workers in the past two years hit a new low of about 339,000, the city’s labour chief has said.Writing on his official blog, Secretary for Labour and Welfare Law Chi-kwong said authorities had made progress in finding more quarantine facilities for incoming domestic helpers, before the Omicron coronavirus variant began to affect Hong Kong and Southeast Asia last month.
“In mid-December, we made headway in increasing quarantine facilities for helpers … but such ‘dawning light’ soon vanished,” he said. “It was because the pandemic situation in the Philippines had rocketed … In early January, more than 40 per cent of 175 Filipino domestic helpers tested positive. It was very shocking.” Law said the number of domestic helpers had decreased in Hong Kong in the past two years, noting that there were about 400,000 of them in the city in January 2020. They mainly come from the Philippines or Indonesia. That figure dropped to 350,050 in November last year, and then to 339,451 by the end of December. It was the lowest figure since at least the end of 2016, when there were 351,513 helpers in Hong Kong. The Post has reached out to the government for pre-2016 statistics.
From September to November last year, the figure decreased month-on-month by about 1,300 to 1,900. But from November to December, the number fell by more than 10,000.
Law said he feared the figure indicated that many Filipino helpers could have been left stranded by the flight ban after returning home for the Christmas and New Year holidays, adding the government would closely monitor the situation in both the Philippines and Indonesia. “[In mid-January,] the average number of coronavirus infections in the Philippines peaked at about 35,000 per day. Now it has decreased by about a third, but we don’t know whether it … will reach a low level so that the flights can be resumed,” he said. The pandemic situation in Indonesia was also worsening, albeit at a slower pace than in the Philippines, he added. At the start of the pandemic, domestic helpers were allowed to be isolated for a fortnight in dozens of quarantine hotels for incoming travellers. Authorities later lengthened the quarantine period for all visitors to three weeks, and only designated a few hotels, as well as about 1,000 units in the government-run Penny’s Bay quarantine centre, for arriving helpers. Law said authorities had managed to find more quarantine hotels for incoming helpers in August last year, but the effect was cancelled out as the Penny’s Bay spaces were reserved for other purposes. “Even those domestic helpers who had yet to finish their quarantine had to be moved to the designated hotels,” he noted.
The Labour Department said on Thursday that apart from the three designated quarantine hotels for incoming helpers, two more facilities – O’Hotel and iclub Ma Tau Wai Hotel – would be made available.
The hotels will provide an additional 491 rooms, taking the total number of quarantine spaces for arriving helpers to 2,779. More quarantine hotel rooms needed for domestic workers: Hong Kong minister. Mike Cheung, president of the Hong Kong-based Overseas Employment Centre, said Law should consider allowing helpers to be quarantined in other hotels, not just the designated five. “This two-track policy was adopted due to uncertainty about anti-pandemic measures in the Philippines and Indonesia. Now that we can see the domestic helpers are not bringing the coronavirus to Hong Kong, employers should be allowed to book other quarantine hotels,” he argued. But Betty Yung Ma Shan-yee, chairwoman of the Hong Kong Employers of Overseas Domestic Helpers Association, said she was not so sure about relaxing the rules for helpers, especially when the government had recently shortened the quarantine period for all incoming travellers from three weeks to two.
Latest ban as city braces for a fifth wave of infections leads to frantic scramble among travellers to cancel and rebook flights, hotel rooms Industry figures warn domestic helper shortage will worsen, and if long wait continues, market may move elsewhere. Hong Kong’s two-week flight ban has dashed the hopes of those planning family reunions as well as disrupted plans for incoming domestic helpers, with the Philippines, Britain and the United States among eight countries hit with tightened rules aimed at containing a Covid-19 surge. Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor announced on Wednesday the ban on passenger flights from Australia, Britain, Canada, France, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, and the United States for 14 days until January 21, starting from Saturday. Travellers who were recently in those countries or had transited through them will be barred from returning to the city for two weeks.Government pandemic advisers also warned earlier on Wednesday that a fifth wave of infections had started, calling on authorities to immediately tighten social-distancing rules to cut off up to 10 invisible transmission chains in the community.
A popular Facebook group for travellers to Hong Kong was flooded with messages following Lam’s announcement, as people scrambled to clarify the rules and rebook tickets. Some residents were looking to do a “wash out”, which means staying for 21 days in a country that has not been banned, before returning to Hong Kong. Some complained they had already changed their flights and hotel bookings numerous times, as airlines have cancelled or suspended routes to Hong Kong in recent weeks. Many speculated that the flight suspension of the eight countries would be extended beyond the current two weeks, pointing to previous examples last year. A 33-year-old investment banker, who asked to remain anonymous, had travelled to Britain on December 18 to visit his parents who live there, rather than asking them to come back to their hometown and face quarantine for 21 days. His wife and baby daughter had already flown out in August. The family had planned to fly back together in January, typically a busy time of the year for his industry. His flight was cancelled and rebooked for January 15, before the suspension was announced. He said while his US firm in Hong Kong was understanding, the situation was not ideal as he was now considering spending 21 days in a third country to return. “I do think things will only get worse and not better in Hong Kong. So my inclination is that the flight ban will be extended, which makes it very difficult, then what do I do?” he lamented. The banker said he knew “a lot” of people from the finance sector who had moved back to their home countries permanently or earlier than they had originally planned, with others considering leaving the city. Hong Kong has stood firm on its zero-Covid stance, aligned with mainland China. “They can’t handle the uncertainty. A lot of them just need to see their family,” he said.
#Covid-19#migrant#migration#hongkong#sante#travailleurmigrant#retour#quarantaine#vaccination
Omicron: Hong Kong to shorten its 21-day quarantine requirement for incoming travellers | South China Morning Post
▻https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3164934/omicron-hong-kong-shorten-its-21-day-quarantine
Omicron: Hong Kong to shorten its 21-day quarantine requirement for incoming travellers
Move comes after persistent complaints from travellers and companies paying high quarantine costs for employees. Hong Kong will shorten its 21-day quarantine requirement for incoming travellers given the much shorter incubation period of the Omicron variant, the Post has learned.A government source said Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor was expected to make the announcement at 5.30pm on Thursday.The move came after persistent complaints from travellers and companies paying high quarantine costs for employees.Currently, Hong Kong residents returning from 147 countries or places deemed high-risk are subject to 21 days of quarantine at designated hotels. Those arriving from 15 countries must isolate at the Penny’s Bay quarantine facility for four days before completing the rest of their quarantine at a hotel. Unvaccinated residents returning from medium-risk countries are also subject to the same.The isolation periods for vaccinated travellers from medium- and low-risk countries are 14 and seven days respectively. But currently nowhere overseas is deemed low-risk by the Hong Kong government.Hong Kong may set new record for daily confirmed coronavirus infections
27 Jan 2022. Last June when the pandemic situation had stabilised, the quarantine period for high-risk countries was cut to 14 days for travellers who could produce a positive antibody test. Flights from eight major countries, including Australia, Canada, France, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Britain and the United States have been banned since the start of the fifth wave of infections, to prevent more imported cases from slipping into the community. Earlier this month, Hong Kong cut the quarantine period of Covid-19 patients’ close contacts from the previous 21 days to 14, citing reasons of pressure on the city’s quarantine facilities and the shorter incubation period of people carrying the Omicron variant.
#Covid-19#migrant#migration#hongkong#sante#circulation#frontiere#omicronquarantaine#test#isolement#australie#canada#france#inde#pakistan#philippines#grandebretagne#etatsunis#casimporte
Shenzhen toughens quarantine rules for arrivals from Hong Kong, authorities lock down third building at Omicron-stricken Kwai Chung Estate | South China Morning Post
▻https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3164610/hong-kong-lock-down-third-building-omicron
Shenzhen toughens quarantine rules for arrivals from Hong Kong, authorities lock down third building at Omicron-stricken Kwai Chung Estate
Health authorities in Hong Kong expand lockdown at public housing estate, with five-day order issued for Ha Kwai House
uThe mainland Chinese city of Shenzhen will impose stricter quarantine rules from Wednesday on travellers from Hong Kong, where a growing Omicron outbreak has prompted authorities to place a third block at a stricken public housing estate under lockdown.Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor on Tuesday pleaded for understanding from the 35,000 residents at Kwai Chung Estate in Kwai Tsing district, saying decisive action was needed to halt the outbreak, which had grown to 276 confirmed and preliminary-positive cases now spread across 12 of the 16 blocks.
As part of that effort, health authorities not only locked down a third block for five days of testing but also extended restrictions placed upon another tower by two more days, meaning residents will only be allowed to leave on Friday after having spent a full week confined almost entirely to their flats.
In announcing the change in the quarantine arrangements for Shenzhen, the city’s government said travellers arriving from Hong Kong would be required to spend 14 days isolated at designated facilities and another seven days at home for health observation, in addition to testing negative for Covid-19 within 24 hours of crossing the border.Previously, they would only need seven days of quarantine at designated facilities, seven days of home quarantine and seven days of health observation, in addition to the same testing requirement. Hong Kong recorded 124 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, the third day in a row in which the tally exceeded 100. Health authorities said 94 of the latest cases were local, while the remaining 30 were imported, including 21 crew members of a ship that arrived from India.
#Covid-19#migrant#migration#chine#hongkong#sante#frontiere#circulation#quarantaine#isolement#test#omicron
Sick with Covid-19, Hong Kong students in UK learn that ‘living with the virus’ means nobody cares, rules don’t matter | South China Morning Post
▻https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3163537/sick-covid-19-hong-kong-students-uk-learn-living
Sick with Covid-19, Hong Kong students in UK learn that ‘living with the virus’ means nobody cares, rules don’t matter
Hong Kong student Kok Suen-tung was in a holiday state of mind when she felt unwell, tested herself and found out she had Covid-19 last month.
The final-year social policy student at the University of Bristol cancelled plans to visit friends in London and spent 10 days alone in her flat in the southwestern English city.Although the National Health Service (NHS) had a Volunteer Responders scheme with helpers to check in on isolated individuals and pick up groceries for those in need, Kok gave up trying to get through after multiple attempts.She received messages from the NHS every couple of days reminding her to avoid going out and meeting people, but it was practically impossible to avoid physical contact with others, as delivery drivers refused to leave her food at the door as requested.“They were probably concerned that the food would be stolen, so they made sure to hand it to me directly, even after I’d told them I had the virus,” she said.
Three Hong Kong students interviewed by the Post said they were shocked by the absence of contact tracing, the loose enforcement of isolation rules and how those who tested positive for the coronavirus were left on their own to stay home, without checks or medicine from the health authorities.
The UK broke its single-day record earlier this month with more than 200,000 cases and recorded nearly 100,000 infections on Friday, but its strategy of “living with the virus” seeks to avoid curbs on social activities, although masks and vaccination records are required in some venues. According to the NHS, a person with Covid-19 must self-isolate at home for 10 days, starting from the day symptoms first emerged or they tested positive. The isolation period can be cut to seven days if they test negative on days six and seven.Current rules also require those in contact with a Covid-19 patient to self-isolate for 10 days, but those fully vaccinated or unable to be vaccinated for medical reasons are exempted.In many ways, the UK approach to dealing with the pandemic is the polar opposite of Hong Kong’s strict zero-Covid strategy.When he had cold symptoms last November, Wong went to a walk-in test centre near where he lived. He found that he had Covid-19 and had to self-isolate.“I had support from my friends, but support from the government was virtually non-existent – it was like they’d given up,” he said.At his private accommodation in Durham, the staff did not wear masks and residents were left in the dark about Covid-19 cases in the building.The students said they wished the UK did more for those who fell ill.
Marco Sik Fong-ching, 23, an occupational therapy student at the University of Liverpool, found out he had Covid-19 last October and remained in his flat for 10 days.“It would’ve helped emotionally to know how and where I caught the virus – it would also be helpful to all in terms of curbing the spread,” he said. “The UK’s self-isolation policy is quite meaningless, as people with Covid-19 do leave home to get food.”NHS staff gave him no medication and advised him to take painkillers if he felt unwell.
Theresa Awolesi, 28, a medical student from London working at a hospital in Bristol, said: “The NHS has been underfunded for years, and staffing is a key issue. Not only is the turnover rate high, many of the staff are ill with Covid.”An average of around 45,000 health care staff were absent daily in the first week of 2022 for Covid-related reasons, according to official data.
Hong Kong migrants to UK struggle to adapt, many willing to accept lower pay and job changes“The government seems to think we are just going to push through and somehow come out on the other side,” she added.
Professor David Hui Shu-cheong of Chinese University, a member of the Hong Kong government’s pandemic advisory panel, said the situation in the UK reflected its decision to live with the virus.“Cases are only traced under a zero-Covid strategy, to identify and quarantine the patients’ close contacts. But when a place has decided to live with the virus, they won’t do that,” he said.Little was likely to change even with a surge of infections.“There’s nothing the patient can do, except to inform hospitals when they experience a shortness of breath, which could mean they have pneumonia,” he said.The three Hong Kong students who fell ill told the Post they recovered and were looking forward to returning home over the summer.
In Bristol, Kok said: “The virus is practically unavoidable here. The community has put in minimal effort to curb another outbreak, because it has been normalised – I don’t think they care.“I can go outside now and I will not see a single person wearing a mask.”
#Covid-19#migrant#migration#grandebretagne#hongkong#sante#etudiant#zercocovid#NHS#tracking#cascontact#quarantaine#vivreavecvirus
Coronavirus: Hong Kong extends stricter social-distancing measures, flight bans on 8 countries through Lunar New Year, will provide HK$3.57 billion in subsidies to hard-hit businesses | South China Morning Post
▻https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3163344/hong-kong-social-distancing-ban-evening-dine
Coronavirus: Hong Kong extends stricter social-distancing measures, flight bans on 8 countries through Lunar New Year, will provide HK$3.57 billion in subsidies to hard-hit businesses.Hong Kong’s ban on evening dine-in services will be extended for two more weeks, through the Lunar New Year holiday, while industries hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic will be offered HK$3.57 billion in subsidies.Confirming an earlier Post report, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor also announced on Friday a flight ban currently imposed on Australia, Canada, France, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Britain and the United States would also be extended until February 4. The ban was first introduced on January 8.
With the measures in place, Lam was still hopeful the long-awaited reopening of the border with mainland China was on the cards after the outbreak of the highly transmissive Omicron variant had stalled the plan.
“The latest assessment is Covid-19 is not yet under control, there’s still a risk of a large-scale outbreak,” Lam told a press briefing on Friday evening. “If there is no major outbreak on February 4, we will restore business operations but they will be subject to vaccination requirements.”She said applications for the subsidies would open as soon as next week with the fifth round of pandemic relief focusing on two main groups.The first is businesses directly affected by the latest curbs such as restaurants, which cannot offer night-time dine-in services, and the beauty industry as well as hard-hit individuals such as gym instructors and freelance artists.
The second group is industries that have remained “frozen” during the pandemic, such as the tourism sector and cross-border transport industry.
Lam said that as the curbs would be in place for four weeks compared with up to 158 days for some industries during the fourth wave, the subsidy amount for businesses this time would be half of that during the previous round of relief. And for individuals, it would be two-thirds of that amount.
The latest offerings add to the government’s subsidies of HK$162.3 billion via an anti-epidemic fund directly benefiting more than 20 industries in 2020 and 2021.The extension will put a damper on Hongkongers’ traditional festive dinners out, requiring them to instead celebrate at home until at least the fourth day of Lunar New Year – one day after the public holiday ends. Large-scale events, such as the Lunar New Year Fair, will also be affected. Stricter social-distancing measures, initially meant to last two weeks, were reimposed on January 5 in the wake of the emergence of an ongoing fifth wave of coronavirus infections.
#Covid-19#migration#migrant#hongkong#sante#circulation#frontiere#zerocovid#tourisme#business#restrictionsanitaire#economietransfrontaliere
More quarantine hotel rooms needed for arriving domestic workers as manpower shortage could weaken Hong Kong’s economic recovery, labour chief says | South China Morning Post
▻https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3161864/more-quarantine-hotel-rooms-needed-arriving
More quarantine hotel rooms needed for arriving domestic workers as manpower shortage could weaken Hong Kong’s economic recovery, labour chief says. Hong Kong should provide more hotel rooms for arriving domestic helpers to serve out their quarantine, the labour chief has said, warning the current manpower shortage could weaken the city’s economic recovery.Secretary for Labour and Welfare Law Chi-kwong on Sunday also revealed that the number of foreign domestic helpers had dropped from more than 400,000 two years ago to about 350,000 amid the Covid-19 pandemic – a decline which he said would have a wider effect on the city.
“The impact will not be limited to the relevant families or those people who required caretaking from domestic helpers,” Law wrote on his official blog.
“As some members will have to quit their jobs to take care of their families, the labour market and many industries in Hong Kong are set to be affected. If the situation continues, it may affect the city’s overall economic recovery.”
While no regulations limit the number of domestic workers entering the city, only three quarantine hotels have been designated to handle arriving helpers, creating an effective cap and leading to bidding wars for their services in some instances.With the Omicron variant spreading and more arrivals from various countries required to serve an initial four days of quarantine at the government’s Penny’s Bay facility on Lantau Island, the 1,000 slots originally designated for domestic helpers there will no longer be reserved for them from this month.Instead, arriving domestic workers and those who have not completed their isolation at Penny’s Bay will be moved to the new Regala Skycity Hotel, also on Lantau. It will provide 1,138 rooms in addition to the 1,000 offered by two other properties, the Rambler Garden Hotel and Courtyard by Marriott Hong Kong.Law expected the number of new helpers arriving in the city would not increase drastically in the short term, given most of the new slots provided by the Regala Skycity Hotel in January would be “offset” by those who were originally scheduled to go through their isolation in Penny’s Bay.“The Labour Department will continue to work closely with hotels that are suitable and interested in becoming designated quarantine facilities for foreign domestic helpers. I hope that good news will be announced in the short term,” Law said.
He added authorities would monitor the Covid-19 situation in the Philippines and Indonesia, where most of Hong Kong’s helpers came from.
Cheung Kit-man, chairman of the Hong Kong Employment Agencies Association, said more that 4,000 foreign domestic helpers were waiting to work in the city, with the delay for some longer than a year.“All hotel rooms are fully booked in the coming months,” Cheung said. “If an extra 1,000 quarantine rooms could be provided, I think we can clear the backlog within three to four months.”Cheung estimated that at least 10,000 employers had given up hiring a helper in the past year.But Betty Yung Ma Shan-yee, chairwoman of the Hong Kong Employers of Overseas Domestic Helpers’ Association, said the government should increase the capacity in a controlled manner to avoid community outbreaks of Covid-19.“The scheme should be more flexible – if more imported cases from the Philippines and Indonesia are recorded, the government should not increase the quota,” Yung said.
#Covid-19#migrant#migration#hongkong#travailleurmigrant#domestique#sante#quarantaine#care#philippines#quota#politiquemigratoire#indonesie#pandemie
Coronavirus: Britain, US top exporters of Omicron to Hong Kong so far, with cases expected to surge over Christmas holidays | South China Morning Post
▻https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3160526/coronavirus-britain-us-top-exporters-omicron-hong
Coronavirus: Britain, US top exporters of Omicron to Hong Kong so far, with cases expected to surge over Christmas holidays
Published: 3:20pm, 21 Dec, 2021
About a quarter of Hong Kong’s imported Covid-19 Omicron infections so far have been arrivals from Britain, the most from any country, with the United States next in line, a Post review of recent cases has found amid a near-daily detection rate of the highly transmissive variant over the past week.As Omicron continued its global spread, a medical expert on Tuesday warned that a surge of such infections over the next week was all but certain, with residents coming back to the city for the holidays.
“As more residents return to Hong Kong from Britain and the United States, the city will see the number of imported infections increase substantially”, said Dr Ho Pak-leung, an infectious disease expert from the University of Hong Kong.He also criticised the government for waiting until Tuesday to add the United Kingdom to the new highest-risk category, just over a week after the country was found to be the source of two imported Omicron infections.“From the anti-pandemic perspective, it’s not ideal, and will increase the infection risks to Hong Kong,” he told a local radio programme.
Hong Kong on Tuesday confirmed eight new Covid-19 cases, including seven that carried N501Y, a key mutation linked to Omicron. Those infections took the city’s overall tally to 12,541, with 213 related deaths.
Separately, the government announced that all its employees would be required to present proof of Covid-19 vaccination when entering official buildings for work, taking effect in mid-February next year.Since the city’s first Omicron case was confirmed in late November, a total of 19 – all imported – have been recorded.
Five returned to the city from Britain, accounting for 26.3 per cent of all cases. The United States came in second, with four cases, while the rest were spread mostly among African countries including South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya.Since December 12, almost every day has included an Omicron infection among the Covid-19 caseload. On Friday, four of the seven cases involved the new variant, the most yet in a single day.Ho on Tuesday warned the city to brace for a surge in such cases as residents flocked home for Christmas from countries where Omicron had already become the dominant version of Covid-19.Britain was added to Hong Kong’s highest coronavirus risk category on Tuesday, meaning arrivals from that country must now spend the first portion of their mandatory quarantine at the government’s Penny’s Bay facility.
#Covid-19#migrant#migration#hongkong#grandebretagne#afriquedusud#kenya#nigeria#sante#omicron#frontiere#circulation#casimporte#variant
Green quarantine? Hong Kong hotels under pressure to recycle plastics thrown out by guests spending weeks in Covid-19 isolation | South China Morning Post
▻https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3159356/green-quarantine-hong-kong-hotels-under-pressure
Green quarantine? Hong Kong hotels under pressure to recycle plastics thrown out by guests spending weeks in Covid-19 isolation. Experts caution against recycling items from rooms of quarantined guests, citing Covid-19 risk NGO Green Earth estimates hotels have used at least 100 million plastic items during pandemic
Hong Kong’s green groups are alarmed by the large amount of plastic tossed out by hotels where arrivals undergo compulsory quarantine during the Covid-19 pandemic.They want authorities, hotels and even quarantined guests themselves to cut the use of plastic water bottles, disposable utensils, tableware and toiletries, and try to do more to recycle.But some medical experts cautioned against sending items from quarantine hotel rooms into the community, citing the risk of spreading the coronavirus.
Green Earth, a charity that has focused on plastic waste since 2016, estimated that at least 100 million such items had been used at quarantine hotels since the pandemic began last year.Hahn Chu Hon-keung, a director of the group, said that assuming all 86,282 travellers quarantined so far had spent 14 days in a hotel, at least 120,000 water bottles and 13 million plastic items such as food containers and cutlery were used every month. Some in fact stayed 21 days.Chu, who underwent quarantine himself last month, said he emailed his hotel before arriving to ask it not to place bottled water in his room. He also requested reusable cutlery for his stay.
The Dorsett Tsuen Wan Hotel, where Chu stayed for 14 days, told the Post the amount of plastic items given to quarantine guests was so large that it had introduced reusable cutlery.It provided bottled water unless guests said they did not want it, and there were kettles for guests to use in their rooms.
The Amber Foundation, a charity which has collected unused hotel toiletries and airline kits for distribution to street sleepers, women in shelters and others, urged quarantined hotel guests to donate unused, sealed items.
How to use Hong Kong’s ‘Leave Home Safe’ app to enter mainland China and Macau quarantine free. Chairwoman Elizabeth Thomson said it used to repackage the donations into toiletry kits for men and women. Since the pandemic, these donations have surged.“We used to put together about 5,000 toiletry kits every year, but in the last month alone, we distributed more than 1,000 kits,” she said.Thomson said quarantined hotel guests could save unused items to recycle rather than leave them behind to be thrown away when they checked out.She said it would help if the Department of Health explained whether everything from the guests’ rooms had to be thrown out or if sealed toiletries such as liquid soap and shampoo could be given away.If there was nothing wrong with the items, the hotels could work with NGOs to recycle them and cut wastage, she added.
“If we try counting the number of plastic waste [items] in a quarantine hotel, it would be horrifying,” Thomson said.
#Covid-19#migrant#migration#sante#hongkong#sante#quarantaine#hotel#chine#macau#frontiere#circulation
Separated from sick family members, Hong Kong’s poorest ask why business travellers should visit mainland China before they do | South China Morning Post
▻https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3159397/separated-sick-family-members-hong-kongs-poorest
Separated from sick family members, Hong Kong’s poorest ask why business travellers should visit mainland China before they do Quarantine too expensive for many to cross border, local NGO says, urging government to use half of initial travel quota for reuniting families City leader Carrie Lam has previously said business community will take priority when border gradually reopens, something expected to take place after coming Legco poll
Low-income Hongkongers hoping to visit sick relatives in mainland China are calling on the government to give them equal priority with business travellers when the border begins gradually reopening soon.At least 10,000 residents urgently need to reunite with family members, but the city is treating them as an afterthought, according to Sze Lai-shan, deputy director of NGO the Society of Community Organisation (SoCO).“Its inhumane and unfair for those with families in need to be excluded from the [initial] cross-border quota,” Sze said on Sunday while urging the government to reserve half the slots for such visits.Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor last month said business travellers would take priority in the coming quarantine-free travel programme. Sze said numerous families were left disappointed and angry.The programme – initially limited to neighbouring Guangdong province – was expected to be launched shortly after the December 19 Legislative Council election, the Post reported earlier, though only a few hundred people a day were likely to be allowed to cross.At least 80 per cent of low-income families surveyed by SoCO in February indicated that they needed to visit the mainland regularly to take care of their families, with 70 per cent saying coronavirus border controls made helping them impossible.Another 15 per cent complained of being unable to return to attend the funerals of loved ones.At a Sunday press conference, low-income Hongkongers were moved to tears as they described the painful experience of not being able to reunite with ill or dying family members during the 21 months of the border being closed due to coronavirus restrictions.Many said they could not afford the expense of quarantine, including the need to apply for extended leave from work.
Chen Haiyan, a 49-year-old bakery worker, said her father, 93, had a lung condition and was in such a frail state he had fallen several times. Her mother, who was in her 80s and dealing with eyesight issues, did not have the money to take him to a doctor.While her parents had typically taken care of each other, their health issues made it increasingly challenging to do so, according to Chen, who said border restrictions made it impossible for her to help.“My mother keeps asking when she can see me, as she misses me. I told her I want to go back so badly too, but it’s not possible, as quarantine is so expensive and my salary is too low. I can’t give her the money she needs,” said Chen, who works in a bakery.Chan Siu-bing, a resident in her 40s, said her mother in Guangdong had suffered a stroke last month and needed constant supervision, while her father had also recently undergone an operation.Chan, who has underlying health issues of her own, said: “I even took the vaccine in August despite my doctor not recommending it, just so I could go back. But even then, I’m still not allowed to do so.”Chan said she hoped she could soon travel to the mainland with her autistic 16-year-old daughter who was close to her grandparents.In calling for allowing families to cross the border on compassionate grounds, Sze suggested reserving 50 per cent of the any quota for needy residents, while noting the pandemic situation in Hong Kong and the mainland had stabilised in recent months.“In the past two years, [there has been an accumulation of] many family needs. In the beginning, 30 per cent of the quota could go to urgent family matters, and another 20 per cent for family visits,” she said. “Maybe after a certain period, the quota could then be increased.”
#Covid-19#migration#migrant#hongkong#chine#sante#migrationtherapeutique#frontiere#circulation#quarantaine
Coronavirus: Hong Kong authorities set to unveil health code system, paving way for mainland China border reopening | South China Morning Post
▻https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3158032/coronavirus-hong-kong-authorities-set-unveil
Coronavirus: Hong Kong authorities set to unveil health code system, paving way for mainland China border reopening
Hong Kong authorities are set to unveil a Covid-19 health code system on Thursday, paving the way for the long-awaited reopening of the city’s border with mainland China later this month, the Post has learned.
Sources said the government would reveal details of the scheme, which would allow travellers to cross the border to Guangdong province and Macau without needing to undergo quarantine.The development comes after a meeting with mainland officials last week, during which the city was told it had met the “basic requirements” for border reopening, with only a few obstacles remaining, such as a health code app and further tightening of quarantine rules for aircrew.The move will bring the city more in line with mainland travel rules, but Hong Kong’s health code system is not expected to have a movement-tracking function, unlike the version across the border because of residents’ privacy concerns. A source said testing earlier this week of conversions of the Hong Kong health code to the Guangdong and Macau versions – needed when travellers cross from one jurisdiction to another – had been “very successful”, and a dry run of border openings had also been conducted and went smoothly.Francis Fong Po-kiu, honorary president of the Hong Kong Information Technology Federation, said he had learned from government and industry sources that authorities would not require all residents to integrate the existing “Leave Home Safe” risk-exposure app with the one for health codes, only travellers to the mainland would have to do so.
To generate a health code, users will have to provide their real name and home address, as well as upload their vaccination record and Covid-19 test results.Users will have to export their visit records from the Leave Home Safe app over the past 21 days into a file, which will then be uploaded to the website. A self-filled health declaration form will also be needed.
Once all the information is uploaded to the webpage, it will generate a colour-coded QR code, and the data will be sent to relevant government departments. The code will be scanned by border officers for those who need to travel to the mainland.Fong said he believed the Hong Kong version of the health code would not have real-time global positioning system (GPS) tracking because of technical limitations.The mainland version can store users’ travel history and generate a colour-coded warning system based on exposure risks to Covid-19 patients.Another component is the “itinerary code”, which tracks a user’s whereabouts using mobile phone signal data. This code makes use of data from three major telecoms companies on the mainland – China Telecom, China Unicom and China Mobile.It can show which countries or mainland cities a user has visited in the past 14 days. The code also captures the user’s movements with precision and stores the information for use by the authorities.
But a code scheme has proved a controversial issue in Hong Kong, especially if it carries a movement-tracking function, over privacy concerns. The Leave Home Safe app, launched over a year ago last November, is a Covid-19 exposure notification device that allows users to scan QR codes outside buildings before entry and has since been made mandatory at government premises.Neighbouring Macau has its own health code system for border-crossing arrangements with Guangdong province and is regarded as a model for Hong Kong.Macau’s code does not have a tracking function, but generates coloured QR codes which indicate a person’s risk level based on their health status, possible contact with Covid-19 patients and travel history. The QR code, updated daily, is required to be displayed when people enter large public venues.It also allows users with negative test results to switch over to Guangdong’s health code system when they cross the border, but the two apps are not directly linked.Last Saturday, Macau launched a bus pass scheme that required passengers to register with their names to tap contactless stored-value cards when boarding a bus. Officials said the scheme could allow better Covid-19 contact tracing, and as of 10am on Tuesday, more than 165,000 people had registered online. It is uncertain this higher standard of tracing in Macau will increase pressure for Hong Kong to follow suit.
#Covid-19#migrant#migration#chine#macau#hongkong#sante#QRcode#tracking#droit
Coronavirus: Hong Kong further tightens quarantine rules on arrivals from 8 African nations in fight against new ‘Omicron’ variant | South China Morning Post
▻https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3157589/coronavirus-unvaccinated-hongkongers-could-find
Coronavirus: Hong Kong further tightens quarantine rules on arrivals from 8 African nations in fight against new ‘Omicron’ variant. City residents returning from South Africa, Botswana and six other nations must spend the first of three weeks of quarantine at a government facility
Hong Kong has further tightened quarantine rules for its residents arriving from eight African countries following the detection of a new, highly infectious coronavirus variant, requiring them to complete the first week of their mandatory confinement in a government facility. The Centre for Health Protection said on Saturday that Hong Kong residents arriving from South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Malawi, Namibia and Zimbabwe would immediately be sent to Penny’s Bay quarantine centre. The measure takes effect on Sunday.
#Covid-19#migrantt#migration#afriquedusud#hongkong#sante#variant#omicron#quarantaine#afrique#circulation#frontiere