HK’s total Covid-19 cases top 10k, one year after first case detected

By Daisy CL Mandap 

Man from Wuhan who arrived Jan 22 last year was HK's first coronavirus case  

Exactly a year since the first coronavirus case was recorded in Hong Kong, the city’s tally from Covid-19 has gone past the 10,000 mark.

Health officials reported 81 new cases today, Jan 23, pushing the total count to 10,009. But only 731 infected patients are still being treated in 24 public hospitals and the community facility in AsiaWorld Expo.

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Hong Kong’s first case was recorded on this day last year, after a 39-year-old man from Wuhan who arrived via high-speed train from Wuhan and Shenzhen, tested positive a day after arrival.

Asked to assess the city’s response to the pandemic, Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan from the Centre for Health Protection said it had been a difficult year for everyone.

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“The one-year battle has not been easy, not just for Hong Kong, but for the whole world, too,” she said. “We adopted a lot of unprecedented measures, everyone experienced unprecedented situations. No one would ever have expected flights to be halted and borders to be closed. We are all learning from the experience.”

Dr Chuang said people should continue paying attention to their health even after testing negative for Covid-19, and should immediately seek medical help if they experience symptoms.

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Speaking about the new surge in cases, she said the number will continue to rise because of enhanced testing, especially in parts of Kowloon where several outbreaks have been reported.

“We expect the daily number of cases to get more and more in the coming days because of the enhanced testing in the restricted area, and because there is still a significant silent transmission in the community,” she said.

Today's press briefing on Covid-19, exactly a year since HK's first case was reported

Of today’s infections, 78 were locally acquired, including 21 from virus-plagued Yau Tsim Mong district in Kowloon, and six from adjoining Sham Shui Po, parts of which have been put as designated areas for compulsory testing.

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An entire block of flats in Jordan, which is part of the Yau Tsim Mong district, was today put under the city’s first lockdown, and everyone there was told to undergo testing by midnight tonight, and remain at home until the results are known.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam the move was taken after 162 Covid-19 cases were found in the area, and 90% of sewage samples taken from there showed the presence of coronavirus.

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More than 70 preliminary positive cases were recorded today, so tomorrow’s tally is projected to be around the same number as today’s.

Of the three imported cases reported today, one involved a 65-year-old Indonesian worker who tested positive on her second test, while in hotel quarantine.

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The two others both flew in on Jan 21. One is a 37-year-old Filipina domestic worker who came aboard a Cebu Pacific flight from Manila, and the other is a 23-year-old male returnee from Switzerland who traveled on Qatar Airways.

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Lockdown of Jordan block to last 48 hours

By The SUN 

Hundreds of people in full PPE can be seen in the blockaded area in Jordan (RTHK photo)

The Hong Kong government has imposed a 48-hour lockdown on a block with about 50 residential buildings in Jordan, in a bid to control the spread of the coronavirus among people living there.

The unprecedented move, taken in line with chapter 599J of the Regulations on Disease Prevention and Control, was meant to compel all residents in the targeted area in Kowloon to submit to Covid-19 tests, with Saturday midnight as the target completion time.

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The area designated as ''restricted'' runs from Woosung Street in the east, Nanking Street in the south, Battery Street in the west, to Kansu Street in the north.

The lockdown took effect as health officials announced 81 new Covid-19 cases, 78 of them locally acquired. Of the local cases, 21 were linked to the Yau Tsim Mong district, and six to adjacent Sham Shui Po, all in Kowloon.

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Speaking to reporters after an inspection tour of the area Saturday afternoon, Chief Executive Carrie Lam defended the action as being in the interest of public health.

The city’s top official said that for the first 20 days of this month, a total of 162 infections were recorded in the affected districts in Kowloon, where many of the buildings are old and poorly managed. Equally disturbing was that about 90% of more than 20 sewage samples from the area was found to have the virus.

CE Lam says 90% of sewage samples taken from the area had the virus

Responding to complaints about the lack of adequate notice to residents about the lockdown, Lam said her administration would learn from the experience so it would be better prepared if a similar situation occurs in future.

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But she said any public health measures need the full cooperation of citizens to be effective. For its part, the government is obliged to provide all necessary assistance to those affected.

“In this case, for example, we know that the residents being affected are not allowed to leave their homes for up to 48 hours. So what the government has done is we provide them with food packs, which we believe should be able to support them in the next two days,” she said.

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Contrary to earlier reports that residents who had tested negative for the virus would be allowed to leave, police who enforced the lockdown ordered everyone within the area to stay at home until all the test results have been confirmed.

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Anyone who has been in the restricted area for more than two hours in the past 14 days, was told to stay put and submit to compulsory testing by midnight tonight.

The order covered even reporters who were reportedly forced to stay overnight in a hotel when they were stopped from leaving after interviewing people in the area.

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One man who went into the restricted zone for a few hours had an altercation with the police when he was told he could not go out anymore.

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More Filipinas arrested in ATM-linked money laundering

By Vir B. Lumicao 

A fellow Filipina helped the accused to open accounts with HSBC, then took their ATMs away

At least four Filipino domestic workers have been arrested in an ongoing Hong Kong police investigation into a money laundering operation in which illicit money transfers were made using the women’s ATM accounts, the Consulate said.

Consul General Raly Tejada confirmed on Thursday night there had been arrests and that the Consulate is helping them.

"Yes I can confirm that merong mga nakasuhan at tinutulungan ngayon ng Konsulado,” ConGen Tejada said in response to an enquiry. (I can confirm that some people have been arrested and they are now being helped by the Consulate).

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Consul Paulo Saret, head of the assistance to nationals section, said four Filipinas who were recently  had gone to the Consulate last weekend to seek assistance after they were released on bail.

He said the four claimed they were arrested after HSBC reported to the police that huge amounts of money were being moved in and out of their ATM-linked accounts in the bank.

Saret said the workers told the Consulate they had lost their ATM cards and were not aware these were later used to launder money obtained illegally. 

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Unknown to him, two of those involved in the illicit operation had told The SUN that  they were duped by a Filipina member of the syndicate into lending their ATM cards to the scammers in January last year.

“All four of them told us that they lost their ATM cards and found out only during their arrest that these were used in illegal transactions,” Saret said.

One of the two women, C.P., was arrested on Jan 15 and was released on bail by police but was fired by her employer the next day. Her friend, M.N., was dismissed by her employers on Wednesday night for getting into the mess.

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C.P. and M.N. said they were enticed by another friend in January  last year to respond to an advertisement on Facebook offering part-time jobs that could earn them thousands in just weeks.

A fellow Filipina who replied to their enquiry told them they needed to have ATM accounts for payment of their earnings. Initially they would be paid $500 each, but it turned out that was all they would get for the scam that cost them their jobs.

The ATMs were used to launder money by unknown people

When the woman learned they had no ATM accounts, she told the two to get in touch with another Filipina who would help open accounts at HSBC for them.

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M.N. said they were told that they needed to open an account with the bank to receive money.

When she asked if they could use the ATM to operate their account, the other Filipina reportedly said yes, “Oo, magagamit mo 24/7.” (Yes, you can use it 24/7).

M.N. said, “E di masaya ako dahil may ATM na ako, magkakapera pa ako.” (So, I was happy, because not only would I get an ATM, I would also earn money).

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So, later that same month, C.P., M.N. and a friend went to an HSBC branch in a place they said they could not remember and met the Filipina who was to assist them. She coached them on what to say to the teller.

“Ganito ang gawin nyo ha. Ito answer nyo, sabihin nyo sa teller na kailangan makuha nyo rin ngayon ang ATM dahil gagamitin nyo bukas.” (This is what you’ll tell the teller. Tell her you have to get the ATM cards today because you’ll be needing them tomorrow.)

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But after the cards were issued the woman collected the ATMs as well as the PIN codes. She told them some businessmen needed to keep the cards for about a week and they would receive further payments in return.

The Filipina helpers claimed they were never given access to their bank accounts.

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More Covid-19 outbreaks in Yau Tsim Mong trigger partial lockdown, evacuation

By The SUN

Residents in flats C of Kensington Plaza in Jordan will be evacuated

People living in flats C at Kensington Plaza on Parkes Street, Jordan are expected to be evacuated shortly, after an outbreak of Covid-19 in the building.

At least 10 people in five different units of the housing block, all but one facing the same direction, have tested positive for the virus.

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There are also reports that authorities are planning to seal off 150 buildings in the Yau Tsim Mong (Yau Ma Tei, Tsim Sha Tsui and Mong Kok) from midnight tonight, allowing only those who are able to show a negative test result for Covid-19 to leave.

The news came as 61 new Covid-19 cases were reported today, Jan 22, including 24 from Yau Tsim Mong. Of the new infections, 55 were locally acquired, and six were imported.

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More than 50 preliminary positive cases were also recorded.

The imported cases included three Indonesian domestic workers who just flew in from Jakarta, aged 35 to 47. A 31-year-old Filipina domestic worker who just arrived from Manila also tested positive.

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The two others were returning residents: a 24-year-old man who came from Switzerland, and a 32-year-old man from India.

Of the local infections, 26 had no known source.

Dr Yuen says leaking pipes must have caused the virus to spread in the Jordan block

Leading microbiologist Yuen Kwok-hung who inspected the building in Jordan late in the afternoon Friday said there was a chance leaking sewage pipes was transmitting the virus through the flats.

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Another possibility was the “chimney effect,” where contaminated air is sucked upwards, then blown into flats on higher floors.

Yuen, however, said there was no need to evacuate other buildings in the housing block as of now.

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Earlier, infectious disease expert Leung Chi-chiu urged the government to expand mandatory testing in Yau Ma Tei, but said it was pointless to impose a lockdown on residents until they test negative for the virus.

“There is no point in sealing off the designated area now, as most people there have been tested. So even if one or two (infections) were not detected, the risk of spreading to the whole of Hong Kong is low,” said Leung.

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But he said residents should be encouraged to get tested more than once, especially if they develop symptoms, and for the hygiene conditions in the area to be improved.

Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan from the Centre for Health Protection said at today’s press briefing on the coronavirus situation that more residential blocks in Yau Tsim Mong have been added to the compulsory testing list, after at least one confirmed case was reported from each of the buildings there.

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Mandatory testing was also ordered for residents of four residential blocks in Tseung Kwan O, Yuen Long and Chai Wan, where at least two unlinked cases have been reported in each building.

As at 9am today, 718 confirmed patients were being treated in 24 public hospitals and the treatment facility in AsiaWorld Expo. Among them, 34 are in critical condition, 30 are serious, and 654 patients are stable.

One patient passed away in the past 24 hours, raising the city’s death toll from Covid-19 in public hospitals to 164. The 66-year-old female patient was declared dead at 12.42pm today at Princess Margaret Hospital.

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DC trial for Filipina, agency owner charged with offering bogus jobs

By Vir B. Lumicao 

The alleged illegal recruitment case will be tried at the District Court, indicating its seriousness

A Filipina domestic helper and a Hong Kong-born Indonesian female recruiter said they would deny all charges relating to their alleged collection of thousands of dollars from applicants for bogus jobs when the case goes on trial in District Court on Aug 2.

Marijane Biscocho is facing 27 counts and Lennis Ebrahim at least 10 counts stemming from their alleged recruitment of workers for non-domestic worker jobs in Hong Kong and Macau in 2018 and 2019 that turned out to be inexistent.

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At least $600,000 is believed to have been collected from the alleged victims.

Biscocho, 44, will plead guilty only to a breach of condition of stay charge that the Immigration Department has added to 26 counts she is facing, her lawyer told Judge Amanda Woodcock on Jan 20.

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Ebrahim, owner of WHT Consulting Co, a recruitment firm that originally had its offices in Kwun Tong, will not plead guilty to all charges laid against her by the prosecution, her lawyer said.

Ebrahim is the owner of the consulting firm used to collect money from the alleged victims 

After their lawyers declared the accused positions, the prosecutor told Woodcock he had amended count No. 26, which originally accused Biscocho and Ebrahim of depositing $510,500 in an HSBC account between Sept 23, 2018 and June 16, 2019.

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He said he also added count No. 27, which Woodcock read cursorily but did not order to be read out to the defendants.

All the alleged offenses are bunched together in one charge, “Engaging in commercial practice that constitutes wrongly accepting payment for a product,” which the Customs and Excise Department has filed against the two and will be tried for about 15 days. 

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Customs, which arrested Biscocho and Ebrahim on Nov 7, 2019, is prosecuting the case. It is not clear whether the two money laundering counts, which by their nature are police cases, will be included in the trial.

The Hong Kong Customs declined to comment when contacted, with a spokesman saying on Jan 21 that the department would not comment on cases that are already in court.

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The prosecution said it would call 11 civilians, 10 police officers, 3 Labour officers and 6 Immigration officers as witnesses.

Biscocho pictured during her arrest in November 2019

Biscocho drew the breach of condition charge for allegedly working for WHT Consulting between Oct 1, 2018 and Sept 17, 2019 while on a domestic helper visa. That was when WHT was actively recruiting, victims said. Her visa was valid until Nov 12, 2019.

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The two women were accused by 11 Filipinos, mostly helpers, of charging them at least $12,000 each for such jobs as gardeners, drivers and printers in Hong Kong and Macau for their relatives and friends that would pay $7,000 to $13,000 a month.

Biscocho and Ebrahim are also accused of depositing $127,000 in a Hang Seng Bank account and $510,500 in a Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp account between 2018 and 2019, the sums being alleged proceeds from their illegal acts.

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Suzette Ip, head of the Customs and Excise Department team that arrested Biscocho and Ehrahim, said the victims were told their relatives and friends could apply for permanent residency here and in Macau after securing the jobs.

Ninfa Lumatac, another Filipina helper who worked as WHT staff, allegedly helped Biscocho entice the applicants to apply, but she went home via Macau to escape arrest,  the prosecution said.

Judge Woodcock told both parties to prepare for the Aug 2 trial. In the meantime, she ordered Biscocho remanded in custody and extended Ebrahim’s bail.

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