25 new imported cases reported amid global spike in Covid-19 infections

 By Daisy CL Mandap 

25 newly arrived travelers were confirmed as Covid-19 positive on Christmas Day

Hong Kong reported 25 new imported cases of coronavirus on Christmas Day, which appears to reflect the surge in Covid-19 infections in many parts of the world.

Health officials said the latest cases involve 14 men and 11 women, aged between 21 and 80. They travelled to Hong Kong from 11 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Kazakhstan and South Africa.

A record seven passengers aboard flight CX252 from the UK on Dec 24 all tested positive on their arrival tests at HK Airport, triggering a two-week suspension of the flight.

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Five of the patients flew in from Kazakhstan via South Korea on Dec 23, which also triggered a ban on flight KE607 from Seoul.

Separately, four patients were in Hong Kong during the stipulated 21-day incubation period, so compulsory testing orders will be issued at their residential blocks and places they visited at relevant times and dates.

The four include two karate athletes, aged 28 and 33, who live in Ho Pui Tsuen in Kam Tin and the Hong Kong Sports Institute; while the other two, a 35-year-old female flight attendant and a 79-year-old woman, live in Tai Mei Tuk village in Tai Po, and Wing Fai Centre in Fanling.

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The Centre for Health Protection also reported three more patients were found to carry the highly transmissible Omicron variant, raising the total number of cases in Hong Kong to 44.

They include a 64-year-old male toilet cleaner at the airport who is believed to have acquired the coronavirus from a traveler from Ghana. CHP said investigations showed they had identical virus genomes. Thus, the cleaner's case has been classified as an import-related case.

Meanwhile, CHP announced that three airlines have been banned from flying certain routes to Hong Kong for 14 days. These include:

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     - Emirates flight EK 384 from Dubai and Bangkok, as two of its passengers on Dec 23 were confirmed to have Covid-19 on arrival in HK while one passenger failed to comply with pre-boarding requirements. The ban will be enforced from Dec 25 to Jan 7;

     - Korean Air flight KE607 from Seoul, Korea, as five of its passengers on Dec 23 tested positive on their arrival test at HK Airport. The suspension will be from Dec 26 to Jan 8.

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     - Cathay Pacific flight CX252 from London, after 7 of its passengers on Dec 24 were confirmed to have Covid-19 on their arrival test. The ban will be in effect from Dec 26 to Jan 8.

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Sick Filipina settles claim for $9,100 but fails to get paid for forced 20-day wait

By Vir B. Lumicao 

The worker was confined at Prince of Wales Hospital for 4 nights

Can an employer refuse to pay a foreign domestic worker wages for the days that she did not allow the helper into her house despite the official start of her work visa?

This was the question a Filipina domestic helper sought to resolve after she was dismissed by her employer after working for less than a month.

Mary V., 47, is set to leave on Sunday, Dec 26, after agreeing to settle her claim against her employer for $9,100, representing her unpaid wages, a month’s salary in lieu of notice and other payments.

She did not get paid for the 20 days that she would have worked if her employer did not tell her to stay out for a few more days before moving into her house in Shatin, apparently out of fear the worker might have the coronavirus.

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Mary came to Hong Kong on Mar 6 this year to work as a caregiver for a 79-year-old man in Kennedy Town. But the old man died on Oct 5, so her employment ended prematurely.

She looked for a new employer and was signed on by a Mrs Wong at My Sweet Home employment agency on Oct 11. When she got her new work visa on Nov 8, Wong reportedly told her to wait for 20 days before moving in, so she started work only on Nov 28.

On Dec 9, Wong reportedly asked the helper to sign an agreement which stated they mutually agreed to end the contract on Dec 26. Mary said she was surprised and hesitated, but Wong reportedly said it was just tentative and she would know after Christmas if the termination was final.

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Their working relationship was apparently not smooth sailing. Mary complained about having to wake up before 6 am and work non-stop until past 11 under the watch of CCTV and Wong’s mother, who lived with them.

On Dec 15, while waiting at her ward’s kindergarten with the elderly woman, Mary had a severe headache and breathing difficulty, and couldn’t move her right arm.

An ambulance took her to Prince of Wales Hospital in Shatin, where a series of laboratory examinations showed she had a vein wedged between her two collar bones, causing the headache and blocking normal blood flow to her right arm.

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Upon learning that Mary was in hospital, Wong reportedly told her she would sign their agreement and compute what she would pay the helper before Dec 26.

Mary was released on Dec 19, but Wong told her she could not return to the house and must stay elsewhere until Dec 26. The employer gave her $700 for her room and board during that time.

The worker went to the Labour Relations Division in Taikoo Shing on Thursday to find out if she could claim wages for the 20 days that she was forced to stay out. But the labour officer was non-committal and told her to ask Immigration to clarify when her employment officially took effect, she said.

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But when the worker sought advice from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration office and the Mission for Migrant Workers, she was told that the official start of her employment was on Nov. 8 when Immigration released her visa.

At the Immigration on Friday morning, the officer who attended to Mary reportedly said the visa is an official document, meaning her starting date of employment should be Nov. 8.

But when she asked for a written statement so she could claim payment for the 20 days, she was referred to another window. When she got there, another officer directed her to a third window.  Mary said she lost her patience and left, as she was already hungry.

She went next to the employment agency, My Sweet Home, for a scheduled meeting with her employer, to finalize the payment issue, but the latter did not show up, saying she was busy at work.

In the end, she just settled for a $9,100 total payment from the employer. She said this represented her wages from Nov 28 to Jan 8; a $1,000 addition to her air fare, as a one-way ticket had already been purchased for her; and $100 for her travel allowance. 

Mary told The SUN she was set to fly home on Dec 26 and get some rest to recover from her ailment before trying to find a new employer again.

She said OWWA had already made arrangements for her departure and arrival assistance in Hong Kong and Manila. She said OWWA also advised her to go to its regional office and apply for livelihood aid.

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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).