Health Sec sees vaccination rate going up to 50% by August

By The SUN

Chan says HK needs to reach a 70% vaccination rate to gain herd immunity

Secretary for Health Sophia Chan has welcomed a marked increase in the number of people getting themselves vaccinated against Covid-19, adding that she is hopeful the overall inoculation rate could go up to 50% by August.

She made her statement as the vaccination rate shot up to 3.5 million by Saturday night, with a record 58,400 people being jabbed in a single day.

Of the overall figure, 2.1 million have had their first shot of a vaccine, while 1.39 million had completed their vaccination by having the second jab.

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German-made BioNTech vaccines are heavily preferred over the Mainland’s Sinovac, by around 30% more.

 "The figures have been encouraging," Chan said during an RTHK program earlier in the day.

At the time, the total vaccination figure was 3.4 million, with about two million receiving their first job, representing about 30 % of all residents qualified to take the jab.

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"If we can keep this up, there's a chance for us to see a vaccination rate of over 50 percent in August or September," she said.

Saturday saw no new local case being recorded, but two imported ones nudged up Hong Kong’s total Covid tally to 11,991. One is an 18-year-old girl newly arrived from the United Kingdom, while the other is a 45-year-old male who flew in from Russia.

Meanwhile, the surge in new bookings continues, with about 30,000 people making online appointments on Saturday. On Friday, 33,500 had booked their vaccination appointments while 57,700 other people had received either BioNTech or Sinovac jabs.

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The take-up rate of between 97-98% ensures a steady increase in the overall tally.

The health secretary said a higher vaccination rate in Hong Kong could lead to a relaxation of social distancing measures. However, there is a need to boost this to at least 70% before the city can achieve herd immunity.

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But there is a big chance that even that target could be met . Chan said the infection situation in Hong Kong is improving, despite the discovery last week  of the first local case carrying the Delta variant. 

The male patient who worked at the airport, was found to have caught the virus from three newly arrived Indonesian domestic helpers who had stayed in the same part of the airport as he while waiting for the result of their post-arrival Covid-19 test.

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Earlier, a teen-age girl in Tin Shui Wai was found to carry a rare mutation of the Alpha variant, whose source remains unknown.

But Chan said sporadic cases are to be expected because of the spread of mutant strains abroad.

VACCINATION FIGURES AS OF 26 June:

	Number of persons receiving Sinovac vaccine	Number of persons receiving BioNTech vaccine	Total number of doses
First vaccine dose	923 300	1 199 300	2 122 600
Second vaccine dose	565 900	822 600	1 388 500

* The numbers are rounded to the nearest hundred.
 
     In the 24 hours ending at 8pm today (June 26), about 58 400 persons have received vaccination and about 30 000 new vaccination bookings have been made online. Details are as follows:
 

	Sinovac vaccine	BioNTech vaccine
Number of persons receiving first dose	10 700	19 600
Number of persons receiving second dose	9 500	18 700
Overall percentage of persons receiving vaccines at Community Vaccination Centres (CVCs)	97%	98%
Number of online bookings for receiving first and second vaccine doses	6 100	24 000

* The numbers are rounded to the nearest hundred.

    

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Labor Sec calls for shorter quarantine for returning overseas Filipinos

By Vir B. Lumicao 

Cacdac explaining OWWA's effort to bring home returning OFWs

Philippine Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III has called on officials implementing the country’s anti-coronavirus protocols to shorten the quarantine period for returning overseas Filipinos from the current 10 days to as short as 3 days.

Bello made the call in remarks during a town hall meeting on quarantine protocols for returning OFs and inbound travelers held on Friday, Jun 25, co-organized by the Department of Health and the Department of Labor and Employment.

The Inter-Agency Task Force on Covid control is currently implementing a 10-day quarantine for all inbound travelers. All new arrivals are taken directly to the quarantine facility, then tested for Covid-19 on the 7^th day. If they test negative they are allowed to leave on the 10^th day and continue the remaining four days of quarantine at home.

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The new rules shortened the hotel quarantine to just seven days for vaccinated arrivals, but only if they got their jabs in the Philippines. According to health officials, this is because it is difficult to ascertain the genuineness of vaccination records issued abroad.

This requirement was widely opposed by OFs who took part in the meeting, saying there should be an easy way for Philippine officials to check the authenticity of the vaccination certificates.

One of the suggestions was to get Philippine Overseas Labor Offices abroad to authenticate the documents. Another participant who is Hong Kong-based said certificates issued here are difficult to fake and could even be stored electronically.

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Bello said the immediate concern was to help get OFWs back with their families, especially if they have been vaccinated.

“We must always bear in the mind the situation of our OFWs,” the labor secretary said, citing the mental stress on those who just want to be with their families as soon as they arrive in the Philippines.

Bello tells town hall participants the facility-based quarantine period should be shortened

Others are given only a limited time for their vacation, or fly home on emergencies, such as a death in the family. He cited a case where an OFW who had gone home to see a family member for the last time missed the funeral because of quarantine restrictions.

Bello said he gets as many as 500 to 700 “messages of desperation” on his phone, even in the wee hours, from quarantined OFWs asking to be let out earlier.

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“The burden of the long quarantine period is there,” said Bello, who is himself a member of the IATF, which sets down pandemic protocols. It is headed by President Rodrigo R. Duterte and chaired by Health Secretary Francisco Duque III.

Administrator Hans Cacdac of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration supported the call, citing figures showing the low infection rate among returning OFWs. He said that the rate has gone down from 2% to just 1.3% lately, with the quarantine period being adjusted from 1 to 3 days, then 5 to 7, before 10 days.

But the health experts who spoke at the meeting, Drs  Alithea de Guzman, Eva Maria C. Cutiongco-de la Paz and Ma Teresita Cucueco, who is also assistant secretary of labor, took turns explaining the decision to extend the quarantine period amid the rise in the number of mutant virus being found in the country, mainly from returning residents.

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De Guzman pointed out the need to come up with a united national response to the pandemic by understanding the health problem and supporting the government’s strategy to keep the infection under control.

De la Paz, executive director of the UP National Institutes of Health and program director for Health at UP Philippine Genome Center, traced her agency’s work in tracking down the five variants of concern that have been found in the country.

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She said of the current five variants under study, the Delta, which was first detected in India, is causing the most concern among health officials worldwide due to its rapid infection rate. There are now 17 cases in the Philippines but no local case.

De la Paz showing how Delta has become the world's most dominant coronavirus variant 

De la Paz said the Delta variant has now spread to 85 countries after being brought in by international travelers. It has had three mutations, the L452R (the most prevalent) P681R, and T478K.

It is described by the World Health Organization as the fastest and fittest strain and easily spreads among those who haven’t taken the coronavirus vaccine.

Cucueco, on the other hand, explained relevant IATF resolutions on boarding and quarantine restrictions on inbound travelers, including Resolution 120, which shortened hotel quarantine for all vaccinated new arrivals to seven days.

But she admitted vaccination certificates issued abroad are still not being honored in the Philippines for the purpose of cutting short the facility-based quarantine.

Taking this as a cue, Bello said shorter quarantine could be used as an incentive for OFs to get vaccinated before flying home.

 “With due apologies, our recommendation is to reduce the quarantine period for those who have been vaccinated, especially for those who come home only for a few days of vacation, and for those who come home for medical and family emergencies,” Bello said.

He said it was unfair to compel all returning Filipinos to spend the same length of time in quarantine, even those who have already been vaccinated.

“How can you get our people to get vaccinated kung wala namang advantage ang vaccinated? So, iyan ang magandang pag-aralan natin,” Bello said.

He said that in the next IATF meeting, some new measures favoring OFWs should be taken up, including how to authenticate vaccination certificates obtained abroad.

OWWA's figures showing how many OFWs have been helped resettle back in the country

Cacdac used the chance to explain the services that OWWA provides returning OFWs, starting from their arrival at the airport, their quarantine and their eventual delivery to the bus terminals and airports.  He said the funds used for this comes from the national government and not the OWWA Trust Fund.

He showed data showing that around 600,000 returning OFWs have been helped by OWWA in resettling back in the Philippines since the pandemic began two years ago.

He also explained the different financial assistance extended by OWWA to distressed OFWs, including Akap, for those displaced by Covid; Tabang, which helps college-level kids of OFWs finish their schooling; and Tulong Puso, which gives cash grants to groups that come up with a viable business project.

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Studies show local man with Delta variant caught it from Indonesian DHs

By Daisy CL Mandap

The local man was at the airport's testing centre on the same day as the 3 Indonesian DHs

Health authorities revealed today, Jun 25, that a local man found with the L452R strain of the Delta variant had caught it from three newly arrived Indonesian domestic helpers.

A statement issued by the Centre for Health Protection said that genetic sequencing on samples taken from the 27-year-old ground crew of Hong Kong Airlines, identified as case 11902, showed its genomes were similar to those found in three imported cases from Indonesia.

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Cases 11877, 11878 and 11881 were said to be Indonesian DHs who arrived in Hong Kong on Jun 11.

Two, aged 32 and 39, tested positive for the mutant strain on arrival tests conducted at Temporary Specimen Collection Centre (TSCC). Both were asymptomatic.

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The third developed symptoms on Jun 14 while in quarantine at the Metropark Hotel in Ho Man Tin and was declared as a confirmed case on Jun 16. 

All three took CX flight 798 from Jakarta but did not appear to have sat near each other. 877 took seat 65K while 878 was seated at 71C.

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On the day that they arrived, the local man was at HK Airport to receive cargo flight crews, and had worked in the morning at TSCC.

The CHP said it is conducting a follow-up investigation on the possible mode of transmission among the four patients.

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The airport staff was confirmed to have been infected with the Delta variant yesterday, Jun 24, after developing symptoms like a cough and sore throat two days earlier.

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His case sparked widespread concern as he was the first local person to have been found with the variant that is causing a massive spike in infections in countries like India, the United States and United Kingdom.

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However, no one among his family has tested positive, and a lockdown on the residential building in Tai Po where they live has yielded no new case.

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Dead seafarer with Delta variant among 4 imported cases today

By Daisy CL Mandap

 

The sailor who was found dead on his ship tested positive for the Delta variant, 

A dead seafarer from Bangladesh who was found to carry the mutant strain of the Delta variant was among four new Covid-19 cases reported in Hong Kong today, Jun 25.

According to staff at the Centre for Health Protection, the 56-year-old man seaman was found dead aboard his ship anchored off Hong Kong. Tests on specimen samples taken from him showed the presence of the L542R strain, but it’s still not known if his death was caused by the virus. Investigations are continuing.

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Of the three other cases, two were recent arrivals from the United Kingdom, and both carried the L452R strain. They are the fifth and six persons to arrive in HK from the UK in the past five days who tested positive for the highly infectious strain on arrival. Two others who arrived in the same period were found infected while in quarantine.

The first reported patient today is a 20-year-old male who flew in aboard flight KL 819 on Jun 23 and tested positive on airport test. The second is a 22-year-old female who took flight CX252 and arrived on the same day.

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The fourth reported case involves a 37-year-old foreign domestic helper from Indonesia who flew in aboard Garuda flight GA 876 on Jun 20, and was found positive for Covid-19 on her third-day sample. The result of the variant test on her is still pending.  

The spike in the number of variant carriers among new arrivals from the UK prompted Hong Kong last night to again reclassify the country as “very high risk”, which means all travelers from there will have to quarantine for 21 days starting tomorrow.

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Pre-boarding requirements for the travelers also require them to submit a negative result for a nucleic acid test for the coronavirus taken within 72 hours prior to their departure time.

Eight recent arrivals from London were found to carry the Delta variant

But under the tightened restrictions imposed by Hong Kong on May 4, a ban on passenger flights from the UK should have already been imposed. The rules say that if at least five travelers from any place test positive for a mutated form of the virus on arrival at HK airport within a seven-day period, the country-specified ban is triggered.

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The suspension of all flights from any country will also take effect if there are at least 10 passengers from the place who are found with a variant by any test, including during quarantine, within the same period.

This rule was applied when all passenger flights from Indonesia were halted on Jun 22 after six foreign domestic helpers who arrived from Jakarta on that day were found infected with the L542R strain.

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Meanwhile, the CHP said in a press statement that it has been informed about a confirmed case in the UK today, involving a 19-year-old female patient who left HK for London on Jun 13 via flight CX251. A sample collected from her on Jun 16 tested positive, but a repeat test on Jun 22 showed a negative result.

“The CHP is following up the case with the UK health authority and the epidemiological investigations of the case are ongoing,” said the statement.

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Out of caution, the building where she had resided, which is Tower 2, Springdale Villas in Yuen Long, has been put under a compulsory testing notice (CTN) today. Any person who had been to the building for more than two hours from May 31 to June 13 is required to undergo testing on or before June 27.

In the past 14 days, a total of 31 cases have been reported, and all but one were imported. The lone local case involves a 27-year-old male ground crew of Hong Kong Airlines who was identified as the first person in the community to be found with the Delta variant.

The source of his infection is unknown. No one in his family was found infected, and a lockdown of the residential building in Tai Po where he lives has yielded no new case.

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UK reclassified as ‘very high risk,’ travelers to quarantine for 21 days

By The SUN 

Travelers from UK will now present a negative PCR test result and quarantine for 21 days

Hong Kong will require all new arrivals from United Kingdom, vaccinated or not, to spend 21 days in hotel quarantine again starting on Jun 28, after moving the country back up to the A2 “very high risk” category.

Testing requirements which stipulate that UK arrivals must secure a negative result for a PCR-based nucleic acid test carried out no longer than 72 hours before departure will take effect from tomorrow, Jun 26.

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A statement issued by the government Thursday night said the move was taken after “having closely monitored the epidemic developments there (UK), the prevalence of mutant virus strains and the case importation risks that may be posed to Hong Kong.”

Earlier in the day, three returning students from the UK, aged 18-21, were found to carry the Delta variant on their arrival in Hong Kong. Another, aged 17, tested positive for the highly contagious variant on third-day test while in quarantine.

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On Jun 21, two other newly arrived students, both 18 years old and female, also tested positive for  the variant that is causing a spike in cases in several countries, including the United States.

In December last year, Hong Kong specified the UK as an “extremely high-risk” place, and stopped everyone who had stayed in the country from traveling to the city.

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The ban was eased in April, when Hong Kong residents were allowed to return via designated flights. That was after the UK adopted a series of anti-epidemic measures and large-scale vaccinations which led to a significant drop in the number of daily infections.

In May this was further relaxed when the UK was reclassified as a Group B “high risk country,” allowing travelers from there to enter via commercial flights, and spend 21 days in quarantine if they are unvaccinated, and 14 days if fully vaccinated.

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But due to a new surge in cases, with many of the patients found to carry the dreaded Delta variant, the UK was moved up to the Group A2 “very high risk” group, along with Ireland. This is just a notch lower than A1, which merits a country-specific ban.

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The government said “it will continue to closely monitor the epidemic situation of various places, the prevalence of new virus variants, vaccination progress, and changes in the volume of cross-boundary passenger traffic, and will adjust the boarding and compulsory quarantine requirements for persons arriving at Hong Kong from relevant places as the situation warrants.”

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Details on the grouping of specified places and their respective boarding and compulsory quarantine requirements can be found at www.coronavirus.gov.hk/eng/inbound-travel.html.

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