14 more Omicron and 9 new Covid-19 cases recorded in HK

By The SUN

 

Today's 9 new Covid-19 and 14 Omicron carriers, are all recent arrivals from overseas

Health authorities have reported 14 new cases of patients testing positive for Omicron today, Dec. 27, on top of nine newly confirmed Covid-19 infections. All are imported cases.

The Omicron cases were first reported as testing positive for Covid-19 on Dec 24 and 25. All carried the N501Y mutant strain, which is often linked to the new variant of concern.

The cases involved eight males and six females, aged 20 to 80 years old. Nine of them tested positive during their arrival test at Hong Kong airport, while five were found infected during quarantine.

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Hong Kong now has a total of 58 cases involving the Omicron variant. All are imported cases except for one involving a male toilet cleaner at the airport, whose case was classified as import-linked after genome sequencing showed he was infected by a passenger from Ghana.

The Centre for Health Protection also said it was investigating nine additional confirmed cases of Covid-19, taking the number of cases to 12,599, including one probable cases.

All of today’s patients carried the N501Y mutation, indicating that they probably carry the Omicron variant as well. They comprise five males and four females, aged 19 to 59.

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Four tested positive on their arrival test, two during quarantine, and three while in isolation at Penny’s Bay Quarantine Centre after being identified as close contacts of patients detected with Covid-19 earlier.

Also among today's patients are four air crew members, of whom all but one arrived on Christmas day, and tested positive at the airport. They include a 39-year-old man who flew in from Qatar, Korea, Australia and Kenya aboard QR8430, a 59-year-old man who came in from France and Saudi Arabia aboard SV986, and a 26-year-old man who came from Ethiopia aboard ET3728.

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The fourth is a 42-year-old woman who came from Australia via CX138 on Dec 24 and tested positive while in quarantine at Penny’s Bay where she was taken after a co-worker was confirmed to have Covid-19 earlier.

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As today’s patient had been abroad for only three days, her residential block, Tower 7, Phase 1, Park Avenue, 18 Hoi Ting Road, Mong Kok, has been put under compulsory testing notice.

The CHP said this was also because while the patient was asymptomatic, her specimen carried the N501Y and T478K mutant strains.

3 of the new cases were taken to Penny's Bay as close contacts of earlier patients

The two others in Penny’s Bay, a 19-year-old female and a 26-year-old male, came on the same flight as the karate athletes who came from Kazakhstan via South Korea on Dec 23.

The three remaining passengers are a 25-year-old woman who came from South Africa on Dec 22, and two who flew in from the United Kingdom, both aboard CX252 but on different dates. One, a 55-year-old woman, arrived on Dec 24 while the other, a 29-year-old man, came on Dec 25.

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The CHP also said it is looking into the case of a 26-year-old man who lives at Crowne Plaza in  Kowloon East, who traveled to Shanghai from Hong Kong on Dec 19 and tested positive there on Dec 24.

The places where the patient resided, worked and visited in Hong Kong during the incubation period have been included in a CTN.

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Parol-making contests highlight Filcom’s Christmas celebration

By The SUN 

A simple parol design by Sowers won the top prize in St Joseph's contest

Filipinos in Hong Kong again showed their creativity this Christmas season by making parol out of recycled materials and entering them in several contests that revealed how waste can be turned into works of art.

At the St. Joseph’s Church in Central, a parol-making contest that started on Dec. 2 attracted 53 entries made of discarded materials such as plastic spoons, drinking straws, shopping bags, styrofoam plates, and so on.

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Arcy Barbado, contest organizer and coordinator of the Filipino Catholic Group at the church, said all the parols will be hung on the walls of the church until the Three Kings celebration on January 6.

During masses on Christmas Day, the winning entries were announced by organizers, led by entry no. 29 from the Sowers Community as champion. It was made out of green, red and yellow sheets of paper, cut and layered to make a wreath with a hand-drawn nativity scene in the middle.

Members of the Sowers Community group gather in front of their winning entry

The four other winners, in the absence of immediate identification of their owners, were announced only as entries no. 28A, 17, 2, and 23. Special prizes were also given to 20 entries: 45, 24A, 1, 30, 16, 7A, 18, 5, 10, 13, 40A, 27, 20A, 21, 27A, 25, 42, 15, 27A, 41.

The identities of the winning contestants will be announced by Jan. 6 after the groups that submitted them have come forward, said Barbado, who has been organizing the contest for several years now.

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The selection of winners was done on Dec 19 by the six judges: Fr. Paul Chen, Fr Joseph Tan, both SVD, and four church community coordinators: Delia Sulit of Prayer Group, Emma dela Torre of Sowers Community, Jasby Pardilla of Apostleship of Prayer, and Mildred Ganaden of Legion of Mary.

Some of the entries in the St Joseph's parol-making contest

Meanwhile, the Filipino Friends in Hong Kong also organized a parol-making contest for the 19^th straight year, with the final judging being held on Dec 26 beside City Hall in Central.

Lead organizer Nick Ivan said the group’s Christmas celebration was also a fund-raising event for the victims of typhoon Odette in the Philippines.

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Of the 11 entries in this year’s contest, the one submitted by the Association of Concerned Filipinos in Hong Kong (Acfil) was declared as Champion. In second place was the entry of the Mission Movers Hong Kong, while the one from Filipino Migrant Workers Union GPO was third.

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Consolation prizes were awarded to the entries from Huanduan Organization and the Filipino Migrants Association.

The Holy Family in Acfil's winning entry is shrouded in disposable face masks

Acfil’s winning entry showed the Nativity scene amid the sun’s rays depicted with rolls of rolled-up aluminum foil. Inside a realistic-looking miniature manger the Holy Family was skillfully shrouded in what turned out to be disposable masks.

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The other entries came from Filipino Lesbians Organizations HK, Migrante Pier, FMWU City Hall, FMWU Chater Road, Cuyapo OFW Association, and the Villanueva family.

The other winners in FilFriend's contest

Filipino Friends, which was formed in 1999, had as its theme for this year’s celebration the role of the parol or Christmas lantern in bringing fresh hopes to migrant workers and their families amid the pandemic. (“Parol sa Panahon ng Pandemya, Liwanag ng Pagkakaisa Upang Itaguyod ang Bagong Pag-asa ng Migrante at Ating Pamilya).

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Cold snap to continue for next few days, says Observatory

By The SUN 

Kids and adults alike huddle amid a cold and rainy Boxing Day 

The cold weather warning issued early on Sunday, Dec 26, will remain in force for the next couple of days, according to the Hong Kong Observatory.

The latest weather forecast shows it will be cold and cloudy with a few rain patches tonight and tomorrow, and rain will be more frequent, especially on Monday morning.

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The minimum temperature will be about 9 degrees in the urban areas, and a few degrees lower in the New Territories. The maximum temperature tomorrow, Monday, will be 12 degrees.

It will remain cold on Tuesday, although the daytime will be brighter. Temperatures will range between 11 and 16 degrees.

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Over the next couple of days, the temperatures will rise during the day, but it will still be cool in the morning and night.

The sudden drop in temperatures is said to have been caused by an intense winter monsoon that is affecting the coast of southern China including Hong Kong.

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The Observatory has advised people to wear warm clothes, ensure adequate ventilation indoors and avoid exposure to the wind, especially on high ground and open areas.

The Centre for Health Protection has also urged people to keep warm, especially the elderly.

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"Elderly people have less insulating fat beneath their skin to keep them warm and their body temperature control mechanism may be weaker. Their body may not be able to appropriately respond to the cold weather," the CHP said.

The Labour Department reminded employers to take appropriate precautions, such as reminding employees who have to work outdoors or in remote areas to keep warm.

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HK reports 9 new Covid-19 cases, including CX air crew

By The SUN

The CX air crew staff returned from the US on Dec 25, just 3 days after leaving Hong Kong

The Centre for Health Protection reported nine newly confirmed coronavirus cases today, Dec. 26, including a Cathay male crew member whose positive result triggered a compulsory testing order being issued for people in his residential block in Tung Chung.

Six of today’s cases, including that of the air crew staff, involved mutant strains while the test results of the three remaining patients are still pending. The patients comprise three men and six women aged 19 to 57.

The new infections took the number of cases in Hong Kong to 12,590, including one probable case. No update was given on any new Omicron cases being found.

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The air crew who is 46 years old, arrived on Christmas Day from the United States aboard CX845. As he was in Hong Kong during the incubation period, Tower 3 of The Visionary in Tung Chung where he lives has been put under a mandatory testing order.

The CHP said he tested negative for Covid-19 on Dec 19 and 20. He flew to the US on Dec 22 and returned to Hong Kong on Dec 25 via CX845. His specimen collected upon arrival at Hong Kong International Airport tested positive.

He was asymptomatic and had a Ct value less of than 30, suggesting a recent infection. He received three doses of BioNTech vaccine in Hong Kong.

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Another patient from the US, a woman aged 19, arrived on AC015 via Canada on Dec 24, and tested positive for coronavirus with the N501Y and T478K mutant strains.   

Three other patients carried the mutant strains: a man aged 42 who flew in from Nigeria on ET608 on Dec 22; a woman aged 26 who flew in aboard KL819 from France via The Netherlands on Dec 24; and another woman aged 26 who came aboard EK384 from  Pakistan via United Arab Emirates on Dec 22. 

The lone patient with an L452R mutant strain was a woman aged 43 who arrived aboard TK083 on Dec 24 from Pakistan via Turkey. She tested positive at the airport.

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The Hospital Autohrity said a total of 143 confirmed patients are being treated in two government-run infection control- facilities. One is in serious condition while the rest are stable.

Chan says HK's anti-Omicron measures are of 'highest standard' (file)

Meanwhile, Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan said Hong Kong has been implementing anti-epidemic measures at the “highest standard” to keep out Omicron, recently designated by the World Health Organization as a variant of concern.

Writing in her blog today, Chan said Hong Kong has seen a recent spike in Covid-19 cases because of the big number of people coming in from overseas for the Christmas and New Year holidays.

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But she said there is still a need to step up the local vaccination rate, especially among those aged 80 and above, of whom 80% have yet to get the jab. This, she said, makes them vulnerable, as well as other people in Hong Kong.

With Omicron being found in nearly all infected new arrivals from abroad, she said it is particularly important for those in the high-risk groups, such as airport workers and air crew staff to get a booster dose of a coronavirus vaccine.

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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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