HK reports 7 new Omicron & 5 new Covid-19 cases

By The SUN

 

There are now 41 Omicron cases in HK, all imported

Hong Kong health authorities have recorded five new Covid-19 cases, taking the total number of cases to 12,556.

At the same time, the Centre for Health Protection said seven previously reported confirmed Covid-19 cases also tested positive for the Omicron variant. They comprise four women and three men aged 18 to 61, who were reported as imported cases on Monday and Wednesday.

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They raised Hong Kong’s total Omicron cases to 41.

Separately, CHP said there were “fewer than 25” preliminary positive cases. These included five karate athletes who just returned from a competition in Kazakhstan via South Korea and a Cathay Pacific cabin crew member who flew in from Sydney aboard flight CX138 on Friday.

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Today’s new confirmed cases of Covid-19 included a 64-year-old male toiler cleaner at HK Airport who was reported Friday night as a preliminary positive case. An overnight lockdown of On Hei House in Tuen Mun where he lives did not yield any new cases.

The CHP said about 14 of the man’s contacts, as well as about 40 household contacts and close contacts of those close contacts have been moved to a quarantine centre. No one has tested positive for Covid-19 so far.

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The CHP said the cleaner, who was fully vaccinated, worked in a toilet designated for use by preliminary positive cases at the airport, while waiting to be transferred to hospital.

The 26 environmental samples taken by the CHP at the airport all tested negative for the coronavirus.

Environmental samples taken from the airport all tested negative for Covid-19

Two of the remaining cases, both women aged 20 and 25, arrived in Hong Kong on Monday.  One came from Germany and Ireland aboard LH796 and the other, from Australia on CX100. They both received two doses of the BioNTech vaccine.

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The younger woman was in quarantine at Holiday Inn Golden Mile in Tsim Sha Tsui while the older one stayed at Hotel Indigo in Wanchai.

The two remaining cases, one 46-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman, both arrived on Wednesday on board flight ET608 and tested positive on their arrival tests. They traveled from Ghana and Nigeria via Ethiopia.

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All of the new cases carried the N501Y mutant strain, which often indicates the presence of the dreaded Omicron variant.

FDHs among the first to be issued e-visas from Tuesday

By The SUN

Photo of how the new e-visa will look like

Foreign domestic helpers and non-local graduates will be the first to benefit from Immigration Department’s new online visa application process that will start on Tuesday next week.

Instead of going to Immigration in person to have their visa labels stuck on their passports, applicants can now opt to do the whole process online - from the application, collection and payment for their e-visa.

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They can complete and submit forms through the department’s website or mobile app, as well as the GovHK website.

While applicants can still send their forms by post, their visas will still be issued as PDF documents and sent to the email address they provided starting on Dec 28.

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Applicants are advised to keep the digital document safe as they will still need to present it at Immigration checkpoints when traveling.  

The new document will look similar to the current visa label, but will include a QR code that can only be opened using the department’s app. Visa holders and their employers, on the other hand, can use the app's internal camera function to scan the code and retrieve their information.

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The department said the new digital document will replace sticker labels for visas for extension of stay, entry visas for foreign domestic helpers, and for visas issued under immigration arrangements for non-local graduates, which collectively make up 80% of all applications.

Immigration plans to digitize all visas by the middle of next year.

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Assistant principal immigration officer Hui Yat-ling said the new system will be more convenient for visa applicants

"The new services not only save the time required for traditional means of application submission and visa collection, but also reinforce the anti-epidemic measures to maintain social distance as well as promoting paperless," she said.

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Immigration assured that the visa application fee will remain unchanged.

JLG to distribute more gift packs on Christmas

Some of the items in the gift bags.

Jesus the Living God Church will distribute more gift packs on Christmas day, Dec. 25 to newly-arrived OFWs who are quarantined in Penny's Bay and Rambler Garden Hotel in Tsing Yi, JLG head Bishop Gerry Vallo announced tonight.

Vallo said those quarantined in Courtyard by Marriot in Shatin will receive their gift packs next week.

The deliveries follow the gift packs JLG has distributed to the three quarantine centers for arriving OFWs who had been vaccinated outside Hong Kong.

In all, 71 gift packs were distributed to these quarantine centeres as well as to Bethune House shelter for distressed migrant women.

As in previous gift-giving, those in the three quarantine centers are asked to send to Vallo at 6051 7967 their name, hotel, and room number so that gift packs left at the lobbies will reach them. 

"It will be first come, first served," Vallo said. 

Tuen Mun block locked down as airport cleaner tests positive for mutant strain

By The SUN

(UPDATED) 

Block A of Siu Hei Court in Tuen Mun is where the infected cleaner is said to live

The government announced an overnight lockdown of a building in Tuen Mun a few hours ago, saying a preliminary positive case with a mutant strain detected today had lived there.

A subsequent press release said the patient is a 64-year-old male cleaner at the Hong Kong airport who was tasked with cleaning a toilet used by those who tested preliminary positive on their arrival test while waiting for transfer to hospital.

He had two doses of the Sinovac vaccine on Jul 10 and Aug 10 and because of the nature of his work he had to undergo frequent testing. Between Dec 2 and 20 he was tested a total of ten times, and all the results were negative.

But in a test conducted on Dec 22 at the airport he tested preliminary positive with a Ct value of about 27 to 32, indicating a recent infection. He developed symptoms on the same day.

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Further testing revealed that his specimen carried N501Y and T478K mutations, which led the Centre for Health Protection to suspect that he carries the Omicron variant. But a whole genome sequencing is needed to confirm this suspicion.

A preliminary investigation revealed that he has no travel history and mainly stayed inside the storeroom inside the toilet during work and had been in the toilet with the preliminary positive cases at the same time.

The CHP visited the airport Thursday and collected environmental samples from the storeroom, a changing rool and a restroom that the patient had used.

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If he is confirmed to be a local case with unknown source, he will break Hong Kong’s record of zero infections for the past 76 days.

The building where he resided, identified as On Hei House Block A, Siu Hei Court will be locked down until 7am tomorrow, and all residents tested.

They will be tested four times more on subsequent days as part of stricter measures put in place to prevent the highly contagious Omicron variant from entering the community.

The 2 new patients arrived from Europe and Africa

Earlier, the Centre for Health Protection reported two new imported cases of Covid-19 with the N501Y mutant strain, which most likely indicate they have the highly contagious Omicron variant.

The new patients include a 27-year-old woman who came from the United Kingdom on board VS206 on Dec 19, and tested positive on her third of quarantine at Pentahotel in San Po Kong, Kowloon. She had two doses of the BioNTech vaccine in Hong Kong in April and May.

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The other patient is a 36-year-old air crew who had been to Ethiopia, Ireland, Canada, Senegal and Belgium before taking flight ET309 from Addis Ababa on Dec 22. He tested positive for the mutant strain of the coronavirus on arrival at Hong Kong Airport. He had two Sinopharm jabs in Ethiopia in May and June.

The two brought Hong Kong’s total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases to 12,550.

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As of this writing, there has been no update on the number of Omicron patients found in Hong Kong today.

As of yesterday, a total of 34 new arrivals from abroad had already tested positive for what the World Health Organization has listed as a “variant of concern”. Six who arrived yesterday carried the N501Y variant, and were likely to add to the total tally.

Mission gets strong support for its fundraising lucky draw

By Vir B. Lumicao 

Nearly all the tickets were sold before the raffle draw held at St John's Li Hall on Sunday

Migrant workers have joined forces with other members of the community to help a leading non-government organization raise funds to enable it to continue supporting foreign helpers.

Cynthia Abdon-Tellez, general manager of Mission for Migrant Workers, announced that more than 90% its Annual Lucky Draw 2021 tickets had been bought up by the time selling ended ahead of the lottery on Sunday afternoon, Dec 19.

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Just a week ago, Tellez said the Mission had a deficit of $170,000 for this year, as the number of distressed workers it helped had tripled due to difficult conditions brought about by the coronavirus pandemic.

Those who needed help were not only workers dismissed prematurely by employers who relocated to their home countries or who did not like the helper, but also new arrivals who appealed for help from their quarantine sites.

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Tellez thanked all those who supported the fundraising, from those who donated the people to those who bought or helped sell the tickets.

Daniel Feldman, chairman of the MFMW advisory board, was impressed at the workload the Mission has in its hands and expressed his excitement at the challenges that would take the Church-based NGO “to the next high level.”

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“We are happy to see that encouraging work has been done so far and everyone of us from the advisory board wants to chime in and be a part of that beautiful movement and the great work that you do,” Feldman said.

“We’re looking very much forward to that and to all challenges that are obvious, but we are very promising as well in our support and try to do our very best to bring the Mission into that space.”

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Feldman spoke after helping draw the winning tickets for the 13 prizes that were given to the lucky ticket buyers. Members of the MFMW advisory board, Mission staff, representatives of the St Joseph Catholic Church Women, United Filipinos HK-Migrante, Bethune House Women, Bayan Hong Kong-Macau, Asian Migrants Coordinating Body, Indonesian women’s group and other community groups attended the event at the Mission’s office at St John’s Cathedral on Garden Road. 

The top prize was this donated laptop computer 

The prizes and winning tickets are as follows:

1. Acer Swift 3 Laptop – 006366

2. 48-hour Feast Staycation Package for 2 – 016239

3. Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8” – 015148

4. Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8” – 018378    

5. Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 5G – 005727

6. Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 5G – 018632

7. Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 5G – 007858

8. 3-course Executive Lunch for 2 Persons – 006259

9. 3-course Executive Lunch for 2 Persons – 014360    

10. Xiaomi Mi Air SE Wireless headset – 004938 

11. Xiaomi Mi Air SE Wireless headset – 011579

12. Xiaomi Mi Air SE Wireless headset – 002108

13. Xiaomi Mi Air SE Wireless headset – 020670

Experts endorse giving boosters to all BioNTech recipients

By The SUN 

Those who had BioNTech could now get their booster 3 months after the second dose 

A panel of experts said today, Dec 23 that they support the Hong Kong government’s plan to provide booster shots to adults who received two doses of the BioNTech vaccine by early next month.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam has said earlier this month that she hoped to implement the plan by early January.

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Currently, boosters are allowed only for those fully jabbed with Sinovac or, if they had BioNTech, if they are at a higher risk of infection, such as if they are aged 60 and above, have pre-existing medical condition or are frontliners, including domestic workers.

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But after meeting earlier today amid growing fears about the possible spread of the Omicron variant in community, the experts said all adults should be able to get a booster at least three months after their second dose, although six months is the ideal interval.

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Panel chair David Hui reiterated that BioNTech provided better protection as a booster jab, but people would still be allowed to choose Sinovac if they wished.

The experts also said children aged 12 who took BioNTech for their first shot should get a second dose, but with at least 12 weeks of 56 days as a gap between the two jabs.

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This should ease concerns about patients developing heart inflammation as seen in a few patients who had two doses of BioNTech given with the prescribed interval of 21 days for adults.

Two doses have already been prescribed for those who had Sinovac jabs, or those at a higher risk of infection.

Filipina DH among 7 new coronavirus cases with mutant strains

By The SUN 

The Filipina DH is lone L452R carrier among the 7 imported cases

Seven newly arrived people, including a Filipina domestic helper with the L452R strain, were confirmed today, Dec 22, by Hong Kong health officials to be coronavirus cases. The cases, all imported, raised the city’s infection tally to 12,560.

The Centre for Health Protection also reported that seven patients confirmed on Monday to be carrying the N501Y mutant strain have tested positive for the Omicron variant.

The new Omicron cases, No. 12537, 12540, 12541, 12542, 12543, 12544 and 12545 involved six men and a woman aged 29 to 61.

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Four of them tested positive for coronavirus upon arrival at the airport and three during quarantine. They took to 34 the number of Omicron cases in Hong Kong.

Today’s newly discovered cases comprised three men and four women aged 22 to 61. Five of them tested positive upon arrival at Hong Kong International Airport and one tested positive during quarantine.

Six of them carried the N501Y mutant strain linked to the highly infectious Omicron.

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The 38-year-old Filipina helper, the lone L452R carrier, arrived on Dec 20 via flight 5J272 from Manila. She had two shots of the Sinovac vaccine in the Philippines on Oct 20 and Nov 18. 

One of the new patients was a female air crew member aged 50 who arrived from the United States via London on Virgin Atlantic VS206 flight on Dec 20. She received two AstraZeneca jabs in the UK on Mar 25 and Jun 15.

A 22-year-old man from Switzerland and France who took the same VS206 flight in London developed symptoms on Dec 19, a day before his arrival here. He had Covid-19 in France in October 2020 and was considered as a re-infection case.

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Another patient was a man aged 56 who arrived from Kenya on flight QR818 via Doha on Dec 15 and tested positive at the Penny’s Bay Quarantine Centre.

He is a close contact of a 31-year-old man from Kenya who arrived on the same flight and date and tested positive at Penny's Bay.

An asymptomatic woman aged 49 from Morocco who arrived on flight QR818 via Doha tested positive during her hotel quarantine at O’Hotel in Kowloon City.

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Two patients, a man aged 61 and a woman aged 58, arrived from the UK via flight CX252 on Dec 20 who tested positive at the Hong Kong airport. They were both fully vaccinated. The man showed symptoms on Dec 19 while the woman had none.

The man and woman, who live in Block 3, The Eldorado at 11 Sha Tseng Road, Yuen Long, left Hong Kong on Dec 2 for the UK. They tested negative for Covid-19 on Dec 3 and 17 in the UK.

Upon arrival at HKIA on Dec 20 by flight CX252, their specimens were collected and subsequently tested positive for Covid-19 with the N501Y mutant strain.

The male patient developed symptoms on Dec 19 and had a Ct value of less than 20. The female patient is asymptomatic and also had a Ct value of less than 20. They each received two BioNTech doses in Hong Kong.

Health authorities included the places where they resided and visited in Hong Kong during the incubation period in a compulsory testing notice on Dec 20.

Anyone who was in these places within the indicated period has to undergo compulsory testing by today, Dec 22.

A total of 70 cases have been reported in the 14 days to Dec 21. All of them are imported.

According to the testing and quarantine arrangements for local Covid-19 cases with mutant strains, persons who lived or worked within the same building as the relevant cases will be subject to compulsory testing on dates specified on the CTN.

They will also be required to undergo self-monitoring until the 21st day. (See the details of the buildings and dates of testing at www.coronavirus.gov.hk/pdf/CTN_Specified_premises_and_Dates_of_Testing.pdf).

Specified persons from the premises below are also reminded to undergo compulsory testing in accordance with the CTN tomorrow, Dec 23:

Cheung Hing Building, 44-48 Pitt Street, Yau Ma Tei

Block 18A, Serenity Villa, 230A Tai Po Tau, Tai Po

The CHP’s epidemiological investigations and relevant contact tracing on the confirmed cases are ongoing. For case details and contact tracing information, please see the Annex or the Covid-19 Thematic Website (www.coronavirus.gov.hk).

Mystery surrounds disappearance of Filipina DH during day off

By Vir B. Lumicao 

Anybody seen this Filipina? 

A 38-year-old Filipina domestic helper remains missing three days after mysteriously disappearing since she left her employer’s home on Lyttelton Road in Mid-Levels on Sunday morning for her day off.

An officer of the Consulate said Wednesday, Dec 22, that she tried to reach the missing woman, Gemma Baflor Hinaloc, by phone but with no success.

Welfare Officer Virsie Tamayao from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration said she tried to call the woman’s phone number after reading a report about Hinaloc’s disappearance, but no one was answering.

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Tamayao said Hinaloc had been serving the same employer for the past 7 years and had already claimed her long service pay.

None of her relatives and friends has contacted the Consulate to enquire about Hinaloc, a native of Bohol, said Tamayao.

The Hong Kong Police also said that it had not received any call from the public since it issued an appeal on Tuesday for information on the woman.

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A police spokeswoman said Hinaloc was reported by her employer as missing on Monday, after she failed to return from her holiday on the evening of Dec 19. She’s believed to have gone missing in Central.

The OWWA Hong Kong head said she had sent the woman’s family a message about the incident.

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Hinaloc was described by the police in a press release Tuesday as about 5-feet-4 tall, 60 kilograms in weight and chubby. She has a round face with yellow complexion and long black hair, according to the statement.

The helper was last seen wearing a black jacket, grey trousers, black sandals and a black cap, and was carrying a white rucksack.

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Anyone who knows the whereabouts of the missing woman or may have seen her is urged to contact the Regional Missing Person Unit of Hong Kong Island on 2860 1040 or 9886 0034.

Informants can also email to rmpu-hki@police.gov.hk or contact any police station.

HK tightens hotel quarantine rules as 8 more Omicron cases detected

By The SUN 

Hotel occupants of a room beside or across the one used by an Omicron patient will be tested daily

The Centre for Health Protection has tightened anti-epidemic measures in designated quarantine hotels after eight new Omicron cases were found today, comprising nearly all new arrivals in Hong Kong whose infections were reported on Dec 19 and 20.

Because of the increasing risk posed by Omicron, the CHP said today, Dec 21, that it will further tighten contact tracing and inbound control measures in the city.

The new measures will include requiring daily testing for those who have stayed in rooms adjacent to or opposite the one occupied by an Omicron case in designated quarantine hotels.

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Those who had already completed their compulsory quarantine at the hotel will be asked to undergo additional testing as soon as possible and to avoid group gathering until they complete seven days of medical surveillance.

In addition, the CHP will ensure that staff at the DQHs, who are all required to be fully vaccinated, to have received regular testing. The hotels will also be reminded to step up  ventilation and infection control measures.

Yesterday, the CHP ordered that all inbound travelers must get a negative result for a Covid-19 test conducted 48 hours before departure, instead of the previous 72 hours.

It also tightened the flight suspension mechanism with immediate effect, by mandating that if four or more passengers are confirmed with Covid-19 upon arrival in Hong Kong from the same flight within seven days, that route will be suspended for 14 days.

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The United Kingdom was also added to the Group A+ countries because of the high number of travelers from there who have tested positive for Omicron after arriving in Hong Kong.

But at the same time, all new arrivals from countries in this category will only need to stay for four days at Penny’s Bay Quarantine Centre before being allowed to move to their hotels for the remaining 17 days of compulsory isolation.

While at Penny’s Bay, all travelers will be tested daily.

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The new Omicron cases were mostly new arrivals from the UK and other countries in Europe and Africa, while the rest came from the United States and India. They comprised six males and two females aged between 20 and 68. They were all fully vaccinated.

Five tested positive for the new variant of concern while staying at quarantine hotels, and two on their arrival at the airport.

They raised to 27 the total number of Omicron cases in Hong Kong.

7 of 8 new Covid-19 cases carry the mutant strain linked to Omicron

The number is likely to rise, as seven of the eight new coronavirus cases reported today also carried the N501Y mutant strain linked to the highly contagious Omicron variant.

Only one of the imported cases was found to carry the L452R strain commonly linked to the Delta variant.

They comprise seven males and one female aged 11 to 61.

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Three of the new patients arrived in Hong Kong from the United Kingdom and United States, two Group A specified places (high-risk) with enhanced surveillance.

A man aged 29 and a woman aged 54 arrived via CX252 from London and CX881 from Los Angeles, respectively, on Dec 19 and tested positive on arrival at the airport.

The CHP said the woman, who lives in Block 18A, Serenity Villa in Tai Po, tested negative in Hong Kong on Dec 15 and traveled to the US the next day. She returned to Hong Kong on Dec 19 via flight CX881 and tested positive on arrival.

The patient is asymptomatic and with a Ct value below 30. The places where she lived and visited in Hong Kong during the incubation period were included in a compulsory testing notice on Dec 19.

Four of today’s new patients flew into Hong Kong from Ghana, the United Kingdom and Germany on Dec 15, 17 and 19 via Qatar Airways flight Q818 originating in Doha.

Including a man who arrived via flight Q818 on Dec 14, they triggered a government ban on all Qatar Airways flights from Doha effective Dec 22 until Jan 4, 2022.

Another man aged 61 arrived from London on Dec 15 via Doha on QR818 and tested positive during quarantine at Regal Oriental Hotel in Kowloon City.

The other cases included two 44-year-old men from Ghana who arrived via Doha on QR818 on Dec 19 and Dec 17; a male air crew aged 37 who arrived from Austria via London and Dubai on EK384 on Dec 19; a boy of 11 who flew in from Germany via QR818 on the same day, and a 23-year-old man who came from Pakistan on flight EK384 via Dubai on Dec 8.

Five patients tested positive upon arrival at Hong Kong International Airport and the remaining three were found positive during quarantine.

A total of 67 cases have been reported in the past 14 days to Dec 20. All of them are imported cases.

The Hospital Authority said that as of 9am today, a total of 101 confirmed patients were confined in the North Lantau Hospital Hong Kong Infection Control Centre and the HA Infectious Disease Centre.

Among those patients, one is in serious condition while the rest are in stable condition.

​Epidemiological investigations and relevant contact tracing on the confirmed cases are ongoing, the CHP said. For case details and contact tracing information, please see the Annex or the “COVID-19 Thematic Website” (www.coronavirus.gov.hk).

Distressed Filipina charged with infanticide for dumping baby in bin

By Vir B. Lumicao 

The baby was found in the 12th floor refuse room of StarCrest Tower 2

A 31-year-old jobless Filipino mother suffering from post-partum depression was charged with infanticide today, Dec 21, in Eastern Court for allegedly wrapping her months-old baby in a plastic bag and leaving it to die in a rubbish bin a week ago.

The defendant, M.A. Atienza, was arrested shortly after the baby’s body was discovered in the 12^th floor refuse room of StarCrest Tower 2 at 9 Star St, Wanchai on Dec 14.

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The woman, whose visa status was not mentioned in court, appeared on a wheelchair as she was read the charge before Magistrate Ada Yim.

According to the prosecution, the defendant willfully placed her child, who was under 12 months old, in a white plastic bag which she then dumped in a rubbish bin.

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As a result of her action, Atienza caused the baby to suffocate, the prosecution said.

But the prosecution said the defendant was at the time of the offense not in her right frame of mind due to post-partum depression.

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“…But at the time of the act, the balance of your mind was disturbed by reason of your not having fully recovered from the effect of giving birth to such child,” the charge read.

No further details of the case were mentioned and no plea was taken.

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The prosecution requested a eight-week adjournment for further investigation and legal advice. It opposed bail for the defendant.

Magistrate Yim adjourned the case until Feb 15 next year and ordered the defendant returned to custody. But she told Atienza to return on Dec 29 for a bail review.

Paskong Pinoy Para sa Bethune House