Kuru-Kuro: Alinmang lahi kung pasaway ay magkakalat ng Covid

By Vir B. Lumicao

Gumanda lang ang panahon nitong Sabado at Linggo ay nagsitungo na sa tabing-dagat at sa kabundukan ng Hong Kong ang libu-libong mga tao upang salubungin ang pagsilay ng araw makalipas ang dalawang linggong kulimlim at manaka-nakang pag-ulan.

Ang pagsasawalang-bahala ng mga tao sa mga kautusan ng gobyerno para umiwas sa epidemya ay dala marahil ng lumbay ng taglamig at pangambang bunga ng mahigit sa tatlong buwan nang krisis na dulot ng novel coronavirus disease of 2019, o Covid-19.

Nakita ng madla sa mga balita ang hindi pagpansin ng mga tao sa mga hakbang kaugnay ng paglalayu-layo ng mga mamamayan upang mapigilan ang pagkalat ng virus na siyang sanhi ng pagkakasakit ng mahigit 1,000 at tuluyang pagkamatay ng apat na pasyente.

Pindutin para sa detalye!

Tila nagbunga ang mahigpit na pagpapatupad ng gobyerno ng Hong Kong sa ilang hakbang upang mapigilan ang paglaganap ng Covid-19. Kabilang sa mga hakbang na ito ang social distancing o paglalayu-layo at pag-iwas sa matataong lugar.

Simula nang ipatupad ang social distancing ay unti-unting bumaba ang bilang ng mga tao sa Hong Kong na natuklasang positibong may Covid-19. Habang sinusulat ito ay apat katao lang ang iniulat sa Centre for Health Protection na nagpositibo sa virus.

Magandang balita ito para sa mga mamamayan ng Hong Kong na simula pa noong Enero ay balot na ng pangamba dahil sa pagpasok ng kinatatakutang sakit na nagsimula at pumatay ng mahigit 3,000 tao sa lungsod ng Wuhan sa China.

Call us now!

Karamihan sa mga nahawa sa sakit ay yaong mga taong nakapagbiyahe sa labas ng Hong Kong tulad ng mga negosyante, mga mag-aaral, mga kasambahay o dating nakaniig o nakasalamuha ng mga naunang nabiktima ng Covid-19.

Marami sa mga natuklasang may taglay na coronavirus ay mga taong nanggaling sa mga bansa sa Europa tulad ng Britanya, Pransiya, Italya, Estados Unidos, at ilan pang mga bansang pinanggalingan ng mga bumalik dito sa Hong Kong.

Sa mga nakumpirmang may sakit na Covid-19 nitong mga nakaraang araw ay may mga kababayan tayong mga kasambahay. Apat sa mga Pinay na ito ay nanggaling sa pagbabakasyon sa Pilipinas, kaya malamang na doon nila nakuha ang sakit.

Call now!

Apat na dayuhang katulong na nanggaling sa Britanya kasama ang kanilang mga amo ang kumpirmadong may dala ring sakit na Covid-19 pagbalik nila rito sa Hong Kong.

Tatlo sa mga kasambahay na iyon ay mga Pilipina samantalang ang ikaapat, na dumating dito noong Abril 11 matapos ang mahigit dalawang buwang bakasyon sa Inglatera, ay hindi pa natiyak kung ano ang nasyonalidad. Siya ay 32 taong gulang.    

May apat na iba pang Pinay na nakumpirma ring may dalang coronavirus nang bumalik sa Hong Kong kasama ang mga amo mula sa iba’t ibang bansa. Isa sa kanila ay nanggaling sa Pransiya, isa sa Turkiya at dalawa sa Amerika.

CALL US!

Ang mga Pilipinang kasambahay na naunang iniulat na nagka-Covid ay mga nahawa lang ng kanilang mga amo o iba pang kasamahan sa bahay. Ngunit sa tingin ng mga tagarito, ang mga katulong nilang Pinay ang nag-uuwi ng virus kaya sila pinandidirihan nila.

Sa aming pananaw, iyon din ang dahilan ng Hong Kong Labour Department na huwag lumabas ang mga Pinay kapag day off nila, at ilan na sa mga lumabag ang nasisante.

Sa paglilibot namin nitong mga nakaraang araw ay nakita naming may mga pasaway, Pinoy man o ibang lahi, na lumalabag sa batas na huwag mag-umpukan nang higit sa apat-katao. Sige lang sila kahit may nakaambang $2,000 hanggang $25,000 multa.

Ang layunin ng social distancing ay para hindi mahawa o makahawa ng sakit anuman ang lahi at katayuan sa buhay. Ito ay para sa kaligtasan ng lahat.

BASAHIN ANG DETALYE

CALL US!

CALL US FOR MORE DETAILS

Call us now!

Call now!

Call us!

TRAVEL: Walk in HK woods offers spring of hope

By Vir B. Lumicao

The beautiful Tai Tam Reservoir and Country Park is a sanctuary to the weary

Nature seems to be a refuge for mankind during a crisis, no matter whether it is today’s novel coronavirus pandemic, a political conflict or a personal predicament.

Artists retreat into the woods to absorb new elements. Lovers go on long, solitary wilderness walks to harness their emotions and return with a trove of poems. Rebels get lost in the jungles and emerge with a cutting edge.

Although the idea of the woods as a refuge is universal, Confucianism has enshrined it as a basic principle, Ren.

Pindutin para sa detalye!

Kongzi or Confucius (551-479 BC), the great philosopher of the Late Spring and Autumn period, considered that all things in nature were the material foundation on which humans lived, so, people should be friendly towards them.

This perhaps explains why Hong Kong has incorporated nature in every aspect of city life.

Vast nature gardens are found in the middle of business districts purposely to provide nearby space for relaxation to players in the city’s highly stressful financial boardrooms or share market.

Finely built nature retreats like Hong Kong Park, Tamar Park, Hong Kong Botanical Garden, Chater Garden and even tiny Cheung Kong Park are just a few steps away from the city’s giant financial houses and are open to everyone, from corporates to migrant domestic workers.

Call us now!

Yet, if one is looking for a real wilderness setting to commune with nature, a walk up Old Peak Road and around Lugard Road fills that need with plenty of green canopies and a magnificent city view to offer.

The jungle, in fact, is literally just in the backyard, no matter where in the city you live.

 

There's a real jungle beyond Hong Kong's concrete jungles

One of the most popular and accessible jungle treks on Hong Kong Island is the Mt Butler-Mt Parker-Tai Tam complex where a nature lover can design his own hiking route.

For a beginner, one can start at Quarry Bay MTR Exit A for the 8-kilometer Mr Parker-Tai Tam Reservoir walk, an easy concrete jungle road up to the ridge then winds downhill to the upper reservoir dam.

On weekdays, wild boars and their litter wander out of the brush to scavenge for food. But on Apr 10, when the Saturday crowd swelled on a bright day after weeks of bleak and wet weather, the boars that we used to watch on the steep slope below were nowhere in sight.     

Call now!

The paved road splits left towards the peak of Mt Parker or downhill to Tai Tam reservoir and country park. Or one can climb about 600 steps uphill behind the pavilion to the summit of Tai Fung Au and follow the trail on Mt Butler and Jardine’s Lookout to Wong Nai Chung Gap.

From there, one can add another 5km to his hike up Violet Hill and the Sisters Twin Peaks for a breathtaking view of Stanley Peninsula and wait for the sunset on  a view deck near the peak.

Whichever route a hiker chooses, all trails cut through thick vegetation and sedimentary rock formations on lower reaches of the mountains. Be warned that sections on the upper slopes are covered only with rhododendron, cassia or camella shrubs and no canopies, making a summer hike really tough.

In mid-spring though, one is rewarded with a variety of colors of buds, blooms and sprouts and well as brilliant contrasts of old and new leaves. The varied hues offer hope in depressing times such as this.

Beautiful spring blooms offer hope amid the pandemic

One can get so much of nature from the easy walk with lots of picnic and barbecue grounds along the way. Whether one is an artist seeking new ideas, a lover deep in thought or a warrior contemplating strategy and tactics, the route has everything to offer.

But a basic Confucian tenet is: “show love and care for nature in all our dealings with it.”

As Confucius follower Xunzi (Sun Tzu) said: “Respond to it with peace and order, and good fortune will result. Respond to it with disorder, and disaster will follow.

“If the foundations of living are strengthened and are economically used, then Nature cannot bring impoverishment. But if the foundations of living are neglected and used extravagantly, then Nature cannot make the country rich.”

BASAHIN ANG DETALYE

 

Call now!

Press ad to call

Call us now!

CALL US!

Call Us!

Filipina Covid patient went to bank in World-Wide, says CHP

By The SUN

World-Wide House management says it has already disinfected the entire building 

A Filipina who tested positive for Covid-19 on Apr 10 had visited a bank in World-Wide two days earlier, shortly after arriving in Hong Kong from Manila.

This was revealed by the Hong Kong Health Department’s Centre for Health Protection at its daily press conference today, Apr 14.

CHP’s Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan did not name the building, but she confirmed that the woman in case 981, was on compulsory home quarantine when she went to a bank in the place.

Pindutin para sa detalye!

CHP records earlier showed the 38-year-old woman had left for the Philippines on Mar 17 and returned to Hong Kong on Apr 8 aboard a Cathay Pacific flight from Manila that arrived early afternoon. She went to World-Wide House on the same day.

The woman was asymptomatic but a deep-throat sample she submitted to the AsiaWorld-Expo on arrival yielded a positive result two days later.

She was supposed to go on mandatory 14-day quarantine in her house in Constellation Cove, Taipo, after leaving the airport.

Call us now!

Replying to a reporter’s question about the patient visiting World-Wide Plaza despite being under mandatory quarantine, Chuang said:

“A (deep throat saliva) sample (from the woman) was left at AsiaExpo and she returned home for quarantine but she went to a bank before returning home.”

 

Shop owners and tenants are scared of the possible impact of the news on their already dwindling sales

World-Wide House management said it was advised by CHP afterwards about the woman’s visit on Apr 8, but did not specify the place she had been to, whether it was the office block or the adjacent shopping arcade.

A female staff member said that as a result, they circulated an advisory to all the shop owners and tenants on Apr 12 advising them about the woman’s visit, and assuring them that there would be deep cleaning and disinfection.

The staff said the offices were disinfected earlier that day, and the shops, during the night, after they had closed down for the day.

Call now!

Some shopkeepers said the news about the unwanted visit had again spooked their business with very few people in the mall today after strong sales on Sunday.

Meanwhile, there Hongkongers were the only confirmed cases reported today, the lowest for more than a month, and the third day in a row that the daily tally had been below 10. The total number of confirmed cases is now 1,012.

Two of them are students, a 16-year-old who flew in from the United States, and a 22-year-old who came from Britain. The third is a 53-year-old man who also arrived from the U.S.

A fourth Hong Kong man, which local media identified as tenor Warren Mok, had tested positive in Thailand earlier, but returned a negative result shortly before retuning to Hong Kong.

Chuang said that if Thailand had listed him as one of its Covid-19 patients, then he will not be included in Hong Kong’s list even if he continues his treatment here.

Chuang said the first two of today’s cases left deep throat saliva samples at the AsiaWorld Expo testing center when they returned separately from the US.

But the third case, the student in the UK, went home to his family in Yuen Long after completing his 14-day quarantine. The family took him to a private hospital to do the test and was found positive, although his virus count is on the low side, Chuang said. 

People poured out into the streets and leisure places during the 4-day Easter holiday

Despite the big drop in the number of cases, health officials have continued to caution the the public against complacency.

“We have seen general improvement in recent days,  that means people are less worried now. But it is no time to let our guard down, it is still subject to further fluctuation,” Wong said. “We have to do everything we can to protect ourselves to prevent infection,” Chuang said.

The CHP said 13 patients remained critical and 37 more had been discharged from hospital.

BASAHIN ANG DETALYE

Call now!

Press ad to call

Call us now!

CALL US!

Call Us!

World-Wide House says a Filipina did visit its shopping mall, citing CHP

By Daisy CL Mandap

World-Wide Plaza is a favorite shopping place of Filipinos  

The World-Wide House management said today, Apr 14, that a woman under home quarantine, which government records show is a Filipina, did visit its building on Apr 8.

The woman, who was in the Philippines between Mar 17 and Apr 8, apparently went straight to World-Wide House on her arrival at the airport aboard a Cathay Pacific flight from Manila. She then went into mandatory quarantine in her  residence in Constellation Drive, Taipo.

Pindutin para sa detalye!

Despite not showing any symptoms, she was found to have Covid-19 on Apr 10 and was taken to North District Hospital for treatment.

A staff of World-Wide House management said they confirmed the information directly from the Health Department’s Centre for Health Protection.

But the CHP did not give additional details, like which part of the building was visited by the woman, whether it was the office block or the adjacent shopping mall frequented by Filipinos.

Call us now!

This was after a CHP spokeswoman denied the link to World-Wide House during a  phone call with The SUN on Easter Monday, Apr 13. This being a public holiday, the World-Wide House office was shut.

On Sunday, Apr 12, management sent out an advisory to shop owners and tenants advising them of the infected woman’s visit, and said it was going to disinfect the whole building that day.

The staff said the disinfection was carried out in the office block earlier that day, and in the mall after the shops were closed that night. She said the building or the mall will not be closed down after the disinfection.

Call now!

She also said the CHP’s Chinese website (www.chp.gov.hk) does mention World-Wide House in connection with the Filipina woman, identified as patient no. 981.

There is also a mention of World-Wide House among the list of buildings visited by an infected person in the CHP’s website.

In its advisory to shop occupants, World-Wide House management said it recognized their concerns, and had therefore ordered a “thorough cleaning and disinfection of public areas and facilities (of the building) immediately.

 

World-Wide House advisory affirming that an infected woman had visited the building

World-Wide Plaza, the building’s shopping mall, attracts thousands of Filipino domestic workers on weekends and public holidays. Over the four-day Easter break, the mall was reportedly crammed with people who took advantage of the good weather and a big dip in Hong Kong’s daily infection toll to venture out.

Earlier, another rumor, since denied, had been passed on by Filipinos on social media about an infected Indian woman who supposedly works in one of the remittance centers in World-Wide House.

It turned out the woman was working in another building along Des Voeux Road in Central.

But this did not stop Filipino netizens from insisting that the rumor was true, prompting the owner of one pinpointed shop to threaten those spreading it with a lawsuit.

The report about the infected person’s visit has spooked many shopowners already reeling from the double impact of the anti-government protests last year and the coronavirus outbreak that started early this year, which have kept many of their customers away.

One shop owner says having World-Wide tagged as a possible source of infection could result in even greater hardship for them.

BASAHIN ANG DETALYE

 

Call now!

Press ad to call

Call us now!

CALL US!

Call Us!

Baby who traveled with infected DH among 5 new cases of Covid-19

By The SUN

The baby, though without symptoms, has been taken to PYN Eastern Hospital for treatment 

A 14-month-old baby girl who traveled with her family from London, along with their foreign domestic worker who tested positive for Covid-19 earlier, is among the new confirmed cases reported in Hong Kong today, Apr 13.

A stool sample from the baby, who has no symptoms, reportedly turned an initial positive result on Apr 9, and a second test confirmed the finding. She was taken to Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital for treatment.

Two days earlier, her family’s 32-year-old domestic worker was found infected while under quarantine in her employer’s flat in Old Peak Road, Mid-Levels. After she tested positive, the employer’s family was put in a quarantine center, where the baby was also found to have the virus.

Pindutin para sa detalye!

Records from the Centre for Health Protection show the domestic worker was in the United Kingdom from Feb 1 to Apr 7. On Mar 28 she developed a fever there, but records do not show if she had sought treatment.

On Apr 7 she, along with her employer’s family, traveled on Cathay Pacific flight CX 252 from London.  Her seat number was 60A, while the baby was on 16G/D, apparently with her parents.

After testing positive, the helper was sent to Queen Mary Hospital for treatment.

Her employers remain under observation in the quarantine centre.

Press here to get the App

Meanwhile, three other confirmed cases had also flown in from abroad. One visited the U.K., another, Indonesia, while a third was on board the Coral Princess cruise ship that traveled from Argentina and Paraguay.

The fifth case is a family member of a previously reported case.

Hong Kong’s total tally has now reached 1,010, and today is the second consecutive day that the number on infections was below 10.

Health officials warn the numbers may spike again after the holidays if people persist on gathering 

Despite the apparent sign that the contamination has slowed down, CHP’s Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan has repeated the warning for people not to get complacent.

Call us now!

"I think the low number of cases reported may be related to the low number of travelers coming back to Hong Kong, because if the denominator is fewer, then the numerators are fewer, because most of the cases recently reported are imported cases,” Chuang said. “So it may be related to the number of travelers.”

She also said the lower numbers could be due to fewer tests being carried out by private clinics that have shut down over the four-day Easter break.

Like other health experts, she said a further outbreak could happen within the next two weeks if people continue to ignore the government’s rules on social distancing.

"Because in the recent few days we have seen a lot of people coming out, we cannot exclude the possibility of a further outbreak in one or two weeks’ time, but it may not be tomorrow because there is a lap time of incubation period for this virus,” she said.

The warning comes as thousands of people again ventured outdoors to take advantage of the good weather during the long weekend which ends today.

BASAHIN ANG DETALYE

Call now!

Press ad to call

Call us now!

CALL US!

Call Us!