Man who had 3rd dose of Covid-19 vaccine is HK’s lone case

By The SUN 

Today's case took the same British Air flight as a man found to carry the Delta plus variant 

A man who had received a booster dose of a Covid-19 vaccine in the United Kingdom is the lone confirmed coronavirus case reported in Hong Kong today, Nov. 7.

According to a statement from the Centre for Health Protection, the 56-year-old man who arrived on Nov 1 from London via BA027, had received two doses of the AstraZeneca doses in the UK before getting a BioNTech jab on Oct. 31, the day before his flight.

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He was the fourth person from that British Airways flight to have tested positive for Covid-19. Two were found infected on their arrival at Hong Kong Airport, while the third was found to carry the more infectious Delta plus variant, the first such case in the city.

The latest patient developed symptoms on Nov 4 while under quarantine at Four Points by Sheratorn Hotel in Tung Chung.

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He and the two earlier patients from the BA027 flight were found to carry the L452R mutant strain of the coronavirus, often associated with the Delta variant.

The latest case took Hong Kong’s total tally to 12,369.

Meanwhile the CHP said it was informed by the Singapore health authority that a confirmed case it earlier reported to have come from Hong Kong has turned out to be a false positive.

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The patient was described by CHP on Oct 31 as an 18-year-old male patient who lives at Ching Tak House, Tsz Ching Estate, Tsz Wan Shan.

As the case was no longer classified as a Covid-19 infection, the patient’s close contacts have been released from quarantine, the CHP said.

Nip (in blue) has been campaigning hard to get HK's vaccination rate to go up

In a separate development, Secretary for Civil Service Patrick Nip has said unvaccinated civil servants may be required to undergo self-paid coronavirus testing every seven days, from every two weeks.

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Speaking on a TV program today, Nip said the increased frequency of Covid-19 testing could encourage the affected civil servants to get vaccinated.

The head of Hong Kong’s vaccination program also said it seemed reasonable to allow government employees to take a day off to receive a third Covid-19 vaccine dose. Private firms should follow suit, he said.

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Nip said around 69% of the population has received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccines, partly due to a significant increase over the past month or so in the number of elderly people getting the jab

So far, around 35,000 people had booked their third dose of Covid vaccine under the government's booster shot program, Nip added.

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About 1.86 million people from priority groups were urged by the government a few days ago to start booking their booster jabs on Nov 5 and get inoculated from Nov. 11. 

People with compromised immune systems, such as cancer patients, can get a third jab 28 days after completing the two-dose regimen, Nip said.

Those 60 and above and those who face a higher risk of infection at their workplace can do so six months after their second jab.

Nip said the scheme may be expanded soon to cover more people, including those who have received their second Sinovac jab for six months, depending on people’s response to the scheme and the capacity of the vaccination centers.

Those who received two doses of BioNTech vaccines can wait for the government to make an announcement later on whether they can get a booster shot, he said.

He said giving the booster jabs has no direct link to resuming quarantine-free cross-border travel with China, but it will be a factor that mainland authorities will consider. 

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Shipping delays threaten to disrupt Christmas ‘padala’

By The SUN

AFreight still hopes to stick to its advertised Christmas schedule

If you are planning to send gifts to the Philippines for Christmas through door-to-door delivery, better make your move now.

This is the advice of two of the most trusted cargo companies servicing Filipinos in Hong Kong, amid unpredictable shipping schedules that have already held up their deliveries from between 12 to14 days.

According to Rosabelle Woolf, country manager of AFreight, her company’s shipments which were originally set to leave Hong Kong on Oct 25 could not leave until Nov 6 because of port congestion which appears to happen worldwide.

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She remains hopeful the deadlines they set for Christmas deliveries across the Philippines could still be met, but she advises customers not to take their chances.

“We will review the current situation with the Manila office. It seems the port congestion problem is worldwide. Shipping lines opted to the United States because of the higher freight charges and naiipit doon ang containers (the containers are held up there)”, she said.

A Filipina resident who recently arrived back in Hong Kong from the United Kingdom supported Woolf’s observation. She said she was told that a kitchen appliance that she had meant to ship to the Philippines from London last month would not make it in time for Christmas.

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The same is true in the U.S., she said, but added another dimension to the problem.

“Grabe sa LA and UK – up to four months daw ang delay kasi walang pumapasok na container truck drivers,” she said. (It’s really bad in LA and UK, where the delay could last up to four months because the container truck drivers do not show up for work).

But Cora Ong, director of Asian Dragon Door to Door Company, said the back-up was also due to Typhoon Kompasu’s erratic passage through Hong Kong on Oct. 13, which caused signal no 8 to be raised for more than 24 hours.

Ong says that a 2-week allowance be given to be on safe side

The havoc from the typhoon, compounded by the seasonal congestion at the Port of Manila, caused delays in ship-call schedules in Hong Kong, she said.

Ong advised workers who are planning to send boxes to families back home to expect delays of at least two weeks so that they won’t get disappointed if the boxes are not received on time.

“There’s no congestion at Hong Kong port, but it is the erratic arrival schedules of ships that are causing the delay. There’s nothing we can do because the situation is beyond our control,” said Ong.

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She said when the typhoon approached Hong Kong on Oct 13, many shipping companies cancelled their port calls while others delayed their arrival.

For instance, a shipping company would advise Ong that its vessel was arriving to pick up the containers in two days. So, Asian Dragon would stuff customers’ boxes into the containers and prepare them for loading onto the vessel at Kwai Chung.

But the promised arrival date was sometimes moved back by two days or more, further delaying the loading of the containers onto the vessel.

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Ong said the weekly loading of containers sometimes gets delayed for a full week due to the chaotic shipping schedule. If that happens, the batch’s departure from Hong Kong is overtaken by the next scheduled loading, so the two batches are shipped out together.

“We can no longer tell our customers the expected delivery day of their boxes at the consignees’ homes,” Ong said. “No promises. We will try our best, (but) we cannot promise on-time delivery.”

With Christmas nearing, Ong said Manila port is getting seasonally congested. The only upside is the improved facilities there are speeding up the release by Customs of cargos at both the Asian Terminals on South Harbor and the Manila International Container Port on North Harbor.

The stored items for packing have been piling up ahead of the Christmas cut-offs

To be on the safe side, Asian Dragon, like all other cargo companies in Hong Kong have already moved up their Christmas cut-off dates to ensure the “padala” from the Filipino migrant workers here would reach their families on time.

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“The cut-off date for Metro Manila-bound Christmas boxes is Nov 7,” said Ong. But she wanted to make it known that this would not stop her company from accepting door-to-door boxes after that date as what some of her customers had thought.

“It just means that if the boxes are sent out after this date, it is not likely that they would get to the recipients by Christmas,” she said.

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Ong said business this year appears to have picked up compared with last year, as Hong Kong has been able to rein in the coronavirus epidemic.

She said business was bad last year because Covid-19 was at its worst and Hong Kong people who were wary of how the contagion would play out opted to stay at home. As a consequence, many employers also tried to keep their domestic helpers at home even during their rest days, causing a significant drop in shipment volumes. 

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40 Vietnamese illegal immigrants and overstayers sent back home

By The SUN

 

Immigration officers escort the Vietnamese illegal immigrants onto the plane that took them home

The Immigration Department said today, Nov. 6,  that it repatriated 40 Vietnamese illegal immigrants and overstayers through a special flight.

The group was made up of 25 males and 15 females, of whom 36 failed to support their claim against non-refoulement, or against being sent back home. Eighteen of them had been released from prison.

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The four others had overstayed their visas.

The mass repatriation highlighted Hong Kong’s avowed effort to speed up the removal of torture claimants who fail to substantiate their claims.

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A report made to the Legislative Council last year showed that as at the end of April 2020, Immigration had ruled on a total of 17,618 non-refoulement claims, among which only 179, or about one percent, were substantiated or proven.

“Depending on circumstances and need, the Immigration Department will continue to remove illegal immigrants and overstayers from Hong Kong as soon as practicable through appropriate measures,” said the government statement.

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Since 2006, Hong Kong has been providing humanitarian assistance to non-refoulement claimants to meet their basic needs, such as housing and food. At the same time, the government said it has to ensure that this help does not attract more illegal immigrants to seek entry and remain illegally in Hong Kong.

For the years 2020-2021 alone, the government estimates that $706 million will be spent providing humanitarian assistance to non-refoulement claimants in Hong Kong.

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2 Filipina DHs, 2 babies among 7 new Covid-19 cases

By The SUN

 

The 2 newly arrived Filipina DHs flew in aboard a Cebu Pacific flight from Manila

Two Filipina domestic helpers, aged 37 and 42, who flew in on Nov 4 and tested positive on arrival at Hong Kong International Airport, were among seven new Covid-19 infections reported today, Nov 6.

The other cases involved two babies, one 11-month-old boy who came from the United Kingdom, and a two-year-old girl who flew in from Pakistan on Oct 25 and tested positive on her 10^th day of quarantine at Penny’s Bay. She was transferred there after two family members tested positive on arrival in Hong Kong.

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The other passengers are two women, aged 41 and 44, who both came from Nepal; and 62-year-old man who came from the United Kingdom. All arrived on Nov 2 and tested positive on their third day test while in quarantine.

All the patients, except for the babies, were fully vaccinated. Five of them tested positive for the L452R, but the viral load of the 11-month-old baby and one of the Filipina workers were insufficient for variant testing.

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The new cases took Hong Kong’s total tally to 12,367 confirmed and one probable infection.

Those aged 60 and above are in the priority list for the 3rd jab (File)

Meanwhile, more than 20,000 reportedly made appointments for their third dose of a Covid-19 vaccine at the start of bookings yesterday for those in the priority list for the booster jab. 

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Health expert David Hui from the Chinese University said this was "not low," but warned those who wanted to keep getting Sinovac for their third dose may need another jab sooner than if they swtiched to BioNTech.

"Based on the current data, after receiving two doses of inactivated vaccine - whether this is Sinopharm or Sinovac - after six to eight months, most recipients will have very low antibodies," said Hui.

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In contrast, he said data from Israel show that only 16% of those who received two doses of BioNTech were found to have very low antibody levels after six months.

"So the antibodies tend to be more long-lasting, perhaps they can last for six to 12 months."

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Hui declined to dispute Chief Executive Carrie Lam's earlier statement that a higher antibody level does not mean the vaccine used is better, saying it's just her view.

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But Hui confirmed Mrs Lam's announcement yesterday that the border with the Mainland could open as early as February next year. 

 

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Filipina advocate of refugees & migrants succumbs to long-term ailments

By Vir B. Lumicao 

Panares in a goofy photo posted by her brother Sonny on Facebook

A longtime Filipina champion of refugees and ethnic minorities in Hong Kong passed on in hospital on Nov. 4 after a long battle with a number of ailments, including hypertension and diabetes, before succumbing to sepsis.

The death of Adrielle Pañares, head of the Migrants Programme of the International Social Service (Hong Kong branch) was announced to her colleagues by their chief executive, Stephen Yau, via email on Thursday morning.

“She fought a long battle with a number of serious illnesses throughout the past years, and was admitted to hospital in mid-October due to sepsis. Words cannot express my pain of losing such a dedicated and extraordinary colleague and companion,” Yau said.

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He hailed Pañares for contributing “her entire life to the betterment of welfare of refugees, torture claimants and ethnic minorities, heading the Programme for Non-Refoulement Claimants, which may arguably be the most complex and demanding social welfare programme in Hong Kong, with grit, confidence and style.”

Pañares came to Hong Kong in 1991 to initially work under the Vietnamese Migrants Programme of ISS. She then went on to head the non-government organization’s Migrants Programme which serves not only ethnic minorities but also non-refoulement claimants.

News about Pañares’ passing came as a shock not just to her colleagues and members of the Filipino community, but also to the thousands of refugees and asylum seekers she had served for the greater part of her life.

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“Thank you, Adrielle, for your untiring commitment and passion in caring for those in the margins, especially the asylum seekers, refugees, and migrant workers!” the Mission for Migrant Workers said in a post on Facebook.

At the time of her death, Pañares’ was the chairperson of the Coalition of Service Providers for Ethnic Minorities that includes the Mission.

Panares (middle) posing with her airport 'ambassadors'

Under her watch at ISS, Pañares also spearheaded the creation of a group of airport “ambassadors” who greeted arriving migrant workers and briefed them about their rights in Hong Kong and where to seek help if they ran into trouble.

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She also set up Hope (for Harnessing Opportunities and Potentials of Ethnic Minorities) Centre, which provides livelihood and skills training to members of various ethnic groups, including foreign domestic workers.

A separate announcement of Pañares’ passing was posted on Facebook by her Canada-based brother, Sonny Pañares.

“The rock of our family passed away this morning. Adrielle Pañares in Hongkong. We drew strength from her wisdom and loving care to us her siblings, nieces & nephew. It was so sudden & we never got the chance to say our goodbyes,” he said.

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Pañares started working in Vietnamese refugee camps in the Philippines way back in 1984.

Asked during an interview to compare Vietnamese refugee camps in the Philippines and in Hong Kong, Pañares said: “What intrigued me about Hong Kong was that it had barbed wire, and detention camps and detention centers.”

In the Philippines, the Vietnamese who were in the refugee processing centers were free to roam around and interact with people from outside.

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Pañares said that because of their detention, the Vietnamese boat people in Hong Kong were traumatized by the experience, but were also given opportunities while inside the camps. This made working for ISS-HK, and living and working with the refugees, particularly attractive to her. 

She said she relished “the opportunity of actually getting to meet people who fought for freedom and life.”

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Connie Hui, communications and public relations manager of ISS-HK, said everyone at the NGO was deeply saddened by Pañares’ death.

Hui said ISS-HK was in touch with the Pañares’ family “to provide all necessary assistance during this difficult time of loss. Details of her funeral will be announced in due course when arrangements are made and confirmed,” she said.

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