3rd Filipina DH on CX flight, air crew from Canada among 4 new Covid-19 cases

By Daisy CL Mandap 

The Filipina DH is the third passenger of the CX flight from Manila to test positive

A third Filipina domestic worker from a Cathay Pacific flight that arrived in Hong Kong from Manila on Sept 7 is among four additional confirmed cases of Covid-19 reported today, Sept. 11.

The 30-year-old Filipina tested positive on her third-day sample while under quarantine at Silka Tsuen Wan Hotel.

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Like all of today’s new cases, she is asymptomatic and fully vaccinated. She was also found to carry the L452R mutant strain of the coronavirus, like two other patients today. The result of the test on one who came from the United Arab Emirates is pending.

The three other patients include a male air crew who came from Canada, and two other men who each arrived from Japan and the UAE.

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On Sept 9, the first infected passenger from the CX flight 918 was reported to have tested positive on her arrival test. Another passenger classified as her close contact was moved to a quarantine center, where she was also confirmed infected yesterday.

Both the first two cases were also found to carry the coronavirus variant.

Today’s patient had two doses of the Sinovac vaccine in the Philippines on Jun 25 and Jul 29.

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Cathay and Hong Kong Airlines are the only two airlines that can fly direct to Hong Kong from Manila until today, after Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific were suspended for two weeks for flying in at least three passengers who tested positive on arrival test.

PAL’s suspension will be lifted starting tomorrow, while Cebu Pac is banned from flying in until Sept 17.

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Meanwhile, staff at the government information service said one of today’s infected passengers is a 60-year-old male flight crew who came from Canada on Sept 9 via AC7235 and tested positive after moving to Marriott Hotel in Chek Lap Kok for his quarantine.

The Air Canada flight crew had moved to his hotel quarantine when he was found infected

Another is a 52-year-old man who came from the United States, then took flight JL735 in Japan on his way to Hong Kong on Sept. 10. He tested positive on arrival test.

The third is a 27-year-old man who arrived from the United Arab Emirates on Sept 7 and tested positive on his Day 3 sample while in quarantine at Silka Far East Hotel in Tsuen Wan.

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In a statement, the Centre for Protection said the man who came from Japan left for the US on Aug 22, which meant he spent part of his infectious period in Hong Kong. As a prudent measure, the building where he stayed at will be put under compulsory testing noticed.

Separately, the CHP was notified of a confirmed case in the United Kingdom on Sept 10 involving a 54-year-old woman who left Hong Kong via flight AY1337 on Sept. 3.

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Her specimen collected in the UK on Sept 5 tested positive for Covid-19 but she remains asymptomatic. She received two jabs of the BioNTech vaccine in Hong Kong on Jul 18 and Aug 9.

As a precaution, CHP has put the building where she lived at 112A, MaYau Tong Village, Tseung Kwan O, under CTN, while an investigation is carried out.

In addition, CHP reported that it was notified of a case involving 16 crew members of cargo vessel, Ever Calm, who were found infected in Osaka, Japan, when they arrived on Sept 9.

The vessel arrived in Hong Kong on Sept 1 and had cargo operation at Kwai Tsing Container Terminals No.4 from Sept 2 to 3.

Consequently, the cargo vessel will be put under a CTN. Anyone who had been to the ship during the specified period should undergo testing on or before the specified dates.

Today’s confirmed cases took Hong Kong’s Covid-19 tally to 12,148. Of these, 50 patients remain in public hospitals and the infection control center in North Lantau, where they are all in stable condition.

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2 Pinays charged with breaching visa rules, illegal sale of liquor

By Vir B. Lumicao 

The 2 Filipinas were arrested inside a pub in Fai Man building in Central

Two Filipinas, one holding a recognizance paper and another on visitor’s visa, were charged in Eastern Court on Friday for illegal sale and possession of liquor, violating gathering restrictions, and breaching immigration laws.

Jenivib A. Balanggao, 34, and Mary May C. Soriano, 38, who both used to work as domestic helpers, were read a total of 10 charges when they appeared before Magistrate Ivy Chui. No plea was taken.

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The prosecution said the two were arrested during an operation by officers from the Central Police District on Mar 12-13 at a pub in Room 203 of Fai Man Bldg, Li Yuen St West, Central.

Undercover officers went to the building on the evening of Mar 12 as part of an operation to check whether catering businesses in the narrow bazaar popularly called “alley-alley” were complying with a government order to close down during specified periods.

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They found the pub on the second floor open and pretended to be customers. After ordering a beer each and some food, the officers paid the bill and left. But they returned with a raiding team after midnight and arrested the two women.

An identity check found out that both were former domestic workers who had been prematurely dismissed by their employers, the prosecution said.

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Balanggao and Soriano were each charged with two counts of selling liquor without a license and two of possessing liquor for sale without a license on Mar 12 and Mar 13 inclusive.

They also faced two charges of being “persons responsible for carrying on a catering business failing to comply with…the Prevention and Control of Disease (Business and Premises) Regulation 599F” that called for the premises to be closed at the time.

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Likewise, the two women each faced two charges of “knowingly allowing a prohibited group gathering to take placer in a place they) controlled or operated, contrary to Regulation 599G.

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Balanggao was charged separately with violating a “prohibition of taking employment, paid or unpaid, and establishing business” while a removal order was in force against her.

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Soriano was charged with “breach of condition of stay” for taking up work while on a visitor’s visa.

Magistrate Chui adjourned the case until Oct 18 and extended the bail of the two defendants.

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FDHs may book quarantine stay at Penny’s Bay from Sept. 14

By The SUN 

Penny's Bay will be opened to FDHs starting Sept 20 at $480 a night

Foreign domestic helpers who have been vaccinated in Group A (high risk) specified places may start booking their 21-day quarantine stay at Penny’s Bay from 9am on Sept 14, six days before the facility opens its doors to them.

This was announced by the government in a statement issued tonight, Sept. 10, which also said that the quarantine facility will take in only 50 FDHs “at most” per day.

The cost will be $480 per night, inclusive of three meals a day. A maximum of 800 rooms will be made available to the FDHs in the order of submission of applications.

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Room reservations may be made through the FDH Portal of the Labour Department (LD) (www.fdh.labour.gov.hk).

With an estimated 4,000 to 6,000 FDHs waiting to take up their jobs in Hong Kong, it is expected that there will be a surge in booking applications for Penny’s Bay.

The first quarantine facility designated for incoming FDHs, the 400-rooom Silka Tsuen Wan hotel, became fully booked as soon as it opened its online reservation system. Reports say no rooms in the hotel will be available until November.

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The competition for rooms could become even more intense now that Hong Kong has allowed FDHs coming from all Group A countries to enter. Previously, only those vaccinated in the Philippines and Indonesia could come in.

The government’s statement tonight said the quarantine bookings will also be open to FDHs who were vaccinated in Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Singapore, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates.

Still in doubt is whether FDHs coming from these countries who obtained their vaccination in a third place (like Bahrain for a number of Filipina DHs) would be allowed to board flights for Hong Kong and quarantine in the designated facilities.

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The government statement said, "In order to arrange FDHs to come to Hong Kong in a gradual and orderly manner and to guard against imported cases, PBQC will receive at most 50 FDHs every day. The booking system will show the rooms available for booking in the coming 30 days.”

Once an application for room reservation at Penny’s Bay is received, Labour will acknowledge receipt within one or two days and request the applicant to provide relevant documents (i.e. a copy of the FDH's passport, a valid employment visa and a recognised vaccination record).

“After verifying the relevant documents, the LD will issue a demand note to the applicant. The applicant must settle the payment and produce the payment receipt within the specified period of time. The booking process will be completed upon issuance of a booking confirmation by the LD,” said the statement.

If an applicant does not submit the documents required and settle payment within the required period, the booking may be cancelled.

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The booking may be changed or cancelled if (1) the applicant tests positive for Covid-19 before check-in; (2) if the airline change or cancel flights or (3) there is a lockdown, provided supporting documents are submitted in advance.

“If there is a need to cancel a confirmed booking and apply for a refund or change the check-in date due to other special circumstances, the LD will exercise flexibility having regard to the individual merits of each case,” said the statement.

The view from one of the rooms in Silka Tsuen Wan

FDHs are reminded that before boarding their flight to Hong Kong, they must hold a recognized vaccination record, have a valid visa, a negative result for a RT-PCR test conducted within 72 hours before the scheduled flight, and booking for their 21-day quarantine at a designated facility.

Employers and employment agencies, in turn, are advised to allow sufficient time for preparing the required documents and should only book the air ticket for their FDHs after successful confirmation of a booking in a designated quarantine facility.

As for FDHs who were vaccinated in Hong Kong, they have been allowed to come back from Group A countries since Aug. 9. They are also allowed to book their 21-day quarantine in any of the regular designated quarantine hotels.

However, they also have the option of spending their quarantine at either Silka Tsuen Way or Penny’s Bay starting from Sept 21.

Enquiries may be made by calling the Labour Department’s hotline, 2717 1771 or by email to fdh-enquiry@labour.gov.hk.

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Filipino resident pleads guilty to trafficking drugs worth $2million

By Vir B. Lumicao 

The ketamine packets Benoza brought in were wrapped as snacks

A Filipino resident pleaded guilty today, Sept 10, at the High Court to a charge of bringing into the city 4.2 kilograms of ketamine worth $2 million from Thailand more than two years ago.

Richard Marc A. Benoza, a former bartender, admitted the offense before Court of First Instance Judge Audrey Campbell-Moffat. The judge set Benoza’s sentencing to Sept 20.

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Benoza, then 27, was arrested by Customs & Excise officers upon arrival at Hong Kong International Airport on Jan 24, 2019, after a check of his backpack yielded 34 packets of ketamine tablets and granules wrapped as snacks.

The defendant was charged with trafficking in a dangerous drug at the Kowloon City Court on Jan 26 that year and has since been in detention.

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Benoza tried to apply for bail on Jan 6 last year so he could return to his family and take care of his grandmother, but judge Poon Siu-tung rejected his application, citing the huge amount of drugs involved, and the possibility that he would abscond.

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Meanwhile, over in Kowloon City Court, Filipina domestic worker Mary Jane Ocay who also faces drug trafficking charges, similarly failed in her bid to convince magistrate Ada Yim to allow her to post bail.

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Ocay offered to post $10,000 bail but the prosecutor opposed the application, citing the amount of drug involved. But no details of her case were mentioned.

Magistrate Yim adjourned the case until Oct 18 and ordered Ocay back into custody.

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Prosecution proposed for those who turn blind eye to abuse

 By Daisy CL Mandap 

The draft law now goes to the government for consideration and endorsement

A draft law that criminalizes one’s failure to stop the abuse of a child, an elderly or a person with disabilities was released by the Law Reform Commission today, Sept 10.

Under the proposal, anyone with a duty to care for a vulnerable person - including foreign domestic helpers - could be jailed up to 15 years in prison if the victim suffers serious harm, and 20 years if the victim dies.

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Amanda Whitford, who chaired the panel that drafted the legislation, said the law should cover members of the same household, including relatives and FDHs; social workers, care home workers, health care workers, teachers and police officers.

All these people are obliged to take “reasonable steps” to protect a victim if they were aware that abuse was being committed, said Whitford.

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“This is simply a matter of saying that if we can’t find the perpetrator, the one who actually inflicted the blow, we would now be able to also prosecute those who knew about it, stood by and did nothing,” she said.

As an example, she said FDHs should report to authorities if they notice suspicious bruises on children left in their care.

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“Say perhaps they wash the child and they see the constant bruising on the child, then they have an obligation under this law to take steps to try to avert that risk,” she said.

Whitford says helpers may make anonymous calls to Social Welfare or the police if they suspect abuse

Those actions could include making an anonymous phone call to the police or the Social Welfare Department or speaking to another member of the family who could intervene, said Whitford.

The commission said the law would apply in cases where it can’t be proven who out of several suspects is responsible for the crime, and as a result all of them go free.

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Currently, only a system of voluntary reporting of abuse cases exists for family members and professionals such as social workers and teachers. They do not have a legal obligation to report suspected abuse cases, and as such, they cannot be prosecuted or penalized.

The recommendations come as a result of a public consultation on the issue that the commission launched in 2019, shortly after the High Court ended one of Hong Kong’s most shocking cases of child abuse.

In the case that happened three years earlier, a five-year-old girl died of septicemia following months of horrific abuse at the hands of her father and stepmother and step-grandmother.

The couple was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of murder, while the step-grandmother was jailed for child cruelty.

Drawings made by the 5-year-old girl shortly before she died

The commission’s proposals are passed on to relevant policy bureaus of the administration for consideration. The government will then decide whether to endorse them for adoption into law or not.

Meanwhile, recent statistics show a sharp rise in the number of child abuse cases reported in Hong Kong in the first quarter of the year. Between January and April, 279 child abuse cases were reported, up by more than two-thirds for the same period last year.

But social workers say the figures may be even higher amid the pandemic. The limited face-to-face interaction at school is said to have prevented teachers from keeping a close eye on students who may be facing ill-treatment at home.

The Social Welfare Department website says those who want to report domestic abuse may contact its Family and Child Protective Services Units here, or call its hotline: 23432255. 

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5 Covid-19 infections reported, including another FDW on CX flight

By The SUN 

The FDW was moved to a quarantine centre after her travel companion was found infected

Five new coronavirus infections, all of them carrying the mutant L452R strain, were reported today, Sept 10, including a Filipina domestic worker who tested positive at a quarantine centre. 

According to staff at the Health Department, the Filipina was a close contact of another FDW who flew in via Cathay Pacific flight CX918 on Sept 7 and tested positive on arrival test at Hong Kong airport.

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Three of the new cases came in aboard Swiss flight LX138 from Zurich which landed in Hong Kong on Sept. 8.

According to the HD staff, the flight just managed to avoid a two-week suspension imposed on airlines that fly in with at least three passengers who test positive on arrival test at Hong Kong.

While two of its passengers reported as infected today tested positive on arrival, the third, who was a companion of one of the infected passengers, was found to carry the virus shortly after being moved to a quarantine center.

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All five infected travelers were asymptomatic and received full vaccination.

The Filipina received two doses of BioNTech vaccine in the Philippines on Jun 22 and Jul 13; one of the Swiss passengers got the Sinovac jabs in China on Feb 2 and 18; while the two related passengers both had the BioNTech vaccine in Hong Kong on Mar 21 and Apr 11.

The fifth passenger is a flight crew who came via 1-Fly F78109 flight from Moscow on Sept. 8. She received the Sputnik vaccine in Russia on Jul 10 and Aug 8.

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The new cases took Hong Kong’s total Covid-19 tally to 12,144.

The Swiss flight from Zurich narrowly missed HK's two-week suspension

Meanwhile, the Centre for Health Protection said it was notified of two confirmed cases in the United Kingdom involving two male patients aged 16 and 51 who had spent part of their infectious period in Hong Kong.

The younger patient lived at Block 19, Baguio Villa, 550 Victoria Road, Pok Fu Lam. He departed Hong Kong on August 26 for the UK via flight CX255. He tested negative on August 23 in Hong Kong.

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However, his specimen collected on Sept 6 in the UK tested positive for Covid-19 although he remains asymptomatic.

He received two doses of the BioNTech vaccine in Hong Kong on Mar 20 and Apr 10.

The older patient lived at Block 3, Kent Court, 137 Boundary Street, Kowloon. He departed Hong Kong on Sept. 1 for the UK via flight CX255. He tested negative on Augt 30 in Hong Kong.

He developed symptoms on Sept 3 and his specimen collected on the same day in the UK tested positive for Covid-19. He received two jabs of BioNTech vaccine on Apr 27 and May 20 in Hong Kong.

The two buildings where they resided in Hong Kong during the incubation period have been put on a compulsory testing notice. Anyone who had been at the premises during the indicated period should get themselves tested on or before tomorrow, Sept 11.

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