HK to designate more hotels for incoming FDHs

By The SUN

Law chats with a parent during a recent visit to a pre-school in Sham Shui Po

Hong Kong will soon designate more hotels as quarantine facilities for foreign domestic helpers to enable the territory to absorb more arrivals and thus stop the decline in FDH numbers, according to Secretary for Labour and Welfare Law Chi-kwong.

 “I hope that good news will be announced in the short term,” Law said in his blog dated Jan 2.

These developments are expected to benefit thousands of FDHs who have been stranded in the Philippines because quarantine hotels have been fully booked. 

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One employment agency manager said employers were even offering bonus payments to them if they could book their helpers in the designated hotels.

Hong Kong’s efforts to open further to new arrivals follow a decline in FDH numbers from  400,000 to 350,000 since January. November alone saw a drop of 1,400, Law said.

This despite new Immigration regulations that extended the visas of FDHs already in Hong Kong to when their replacements could arrive.

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“The decline in the number of FDHs is not only affecting the relevant Hong Kong families and those who need FDHs’ care; as some family members need to leave their jobs to take care of their families, the labor market and many industries in Hong Kong will also be affected,” Law said. “If the situation continues, it may affect the ability of Hong Kong's overall economic recovery.”

The new hotels will add new capacity to the 1,000 rooms already being provided by the Rambler Garden Hotel and Courtyard by Marriott Hong Kong Sha Tin, and the 1,138 rooms opened at the Regala Skycity Hotel after Penny’s Bay was closed to arriving domestic workers.

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The Regala Hotel had been opened to accommodate FDHs who could no longer check into Penny's Bay Quarantine Center, which had been reserved to quarantine other categories of arriving passengers.

In effect, the third quarantine hotel did not add to the number of FDHs accommodated.

“It can also be said that the number of foreign domestic helpers coming to Hong Kong has not rebounded sharply in a short period of time in compliance with the principle of anti-virus import,” Law explained.

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Hong Kong, however, will keep a watchful eye for infected FDHs.

Before Christmas, the pandemic situation in the Philippines – Hong Kong’s leading source of FDHs -- had been improving, with daily average even hitting as low as 98 cases,

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Nevertheless, health officials were watching a resurgence of Covid-19 after Christmas, which has resulted in the suspension of flights from Manila by Cebu Pacific and Philippine Airlines, after bringing in cases of Covid-19 with the Omicron variant.

Law said, “… it remains to be seen whether they can avoid the risk of a new wave of epidemic rebound."

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7 more Filipina DHs aboard banned Cebu Pac flight among 26 new Covid-19 cases

By Daisy CL Mandap 

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There are now 10 confirmed Covid-19 cases from the 5J272 flight that arrived in HK on Dec 29

Seven more Filipina domestic workers who took Cebu Pacific flight 5J272 on Dec 29 have tested positive for Covid-19 with the Omicron mutant strains. They took the total number of infected passengers from that flight to 10, the biggest number from a single flight from Manila to date.

Three passengers from that flight earlier tested positive on arrival at Hong Kong Airport, causing the two-week suspension of 5J272 on Dec 30.

The seven Filipinas were among 26 confirmed cases reported by the Centre for Health Protection on Sunday, Jan 2. They took Hong Kong’s total tally of Covid-19 positive cases to 12,693.

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Of the seven infected Filipinas, all but one were asymptomatic, and all were fully vaccinated in the Philippines. Four of them, aged 25, 27, 29 and 41were staying at Penny’s Bay Quarantine Centre while three, aged 30, 39 and 47 were at Courtyard Hotel in Shatin.

They took to 25 the total number of passengers from the Philippines found to carry the highly transmissible variant since Wednesday, Dec 29.

Apart from Cebu Pacific, Philippine Airlines has also been suspended from flying to Hong Kong starting on Dec 31 after six of its passengers tested positive on arrival in Hong Kong a day earlier. That left only Cathay Pacific flying passengers from Manila to Hong Kong.

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Meanwhile, passenger flight KL819 operated by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines from Amsterdam has also been banned from flying to Hong Kong effective Sunday after six of its passengers tested positive on arrival on Dec 31.

The infected passengers from that flight were aged 21 to 30, and had taken the flight in the  Netherlands after traveling to various places across Europe, including the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Portugal and Finland. They comprised three men and three women.

Also suspended was Cathay Pacific’s flight CX216 from Manchester, UK after three passengers on its Jan 1 trip tested positive on arrival. They comprised two women aged 27 and 46, and one man aged 22.

There are now 4 confirmed and 1 preliminary positive case from Moon Palace 

Of the newly reported cases, one was classified as possibly import-related. It pertains to a 50-year-old woman who had lunch at Moon Palace restaurant at Festival Walk on Dec 27, at about the same time as three other diners who had earlier tested positive for the Omicron variant.

She was moved to Penny’s Bay on Dec 31, and her specimen collected on that day tested positive.

Her residential building in Ma On Shan was locked down overnight on Saturday, but no new case was found.

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The CHP said it is also investigating a preliminarily positive case linked to Moon Palace. It involves the 38-year-old wife of a construction worker who was among those who tested positive for Covid-19 earlier. 

The couple had dined at the restaurant together on Dec 27 between 2:30pm and 4pm, and were seated about 10 meters away from the male aircrew who is suspected to have spread the coronavirus at the venue.

After being identified as a close contact of her husband, the woman was moved to Penny’s Bay on Dec 30. She developed a sore throat on Jan 1 and her sample tested preliminary positive the next day.

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The places where she worked and visited during the incubation period have been put under compulsory testing notice.

The CHP said it has so far arranged for 340 close contacts in the Moon Palace case, as well as their household members, to be moved to a quarantine centre. These include 22 staff members of the restaurant and about 170 customers who were there from 1pm to 3pm on Dec 27.

Other people who were at the restaurant during the indicated date and times are asked to call the CHP’s hotlines at 2125 1111 or 2125 1122 as soon as possible.

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Twenty-four of today’s cases involved mutant strains while the test results of the remaining two are pending. The patients comprise seven males and 19 females, aged one to 61.

Among the imported cases is a local aircrew member who arrived from the US on Dec 27, and went home to North Point after testing negative on her arrival test. She developed symptoms on Dec 29 after moving in with a friend at Caribbean Coast in Tung Chung. She consulted a private doctor on Dec 30 and tested positive.

An overnight lockdown of the two places where she resided prior to testing positive did not yield any new case.

Another notable imported cases involves a 27-year-old female patient who left for Finland on Dec 24 and returned to HK on Dec 31 from Finland via the Netherlands and Thailand aboard KL819. Her specimen collected at the airport carried the N501Y and T478K strains linked to Omicron.

Her residential building, Block K of Kornhill in Quarry Bay, and places she visited during the incubation period, will be included in a CTN.

A total of 148 Covid-19 cases have been reported in the past 14 days, or from Dec 19 to Jan 1, 2022.  (Dec 19 to Jan 1, 2022). Four of them are import-related cases, while the rest are imported.

The CHP reminded people covered by CTNs issued in relation to the following premises to undergo compulsory testing by Jan. 3: 

·       36B Tai Mei Tuk Village (except G/F), Tai Po

·       Tower 3, The Visionary, 1 Ying Hong Street, Tung Chung

·       Tower 7, Park Avenue, 18 Hoi Ting Road, Tai Kok Tsui

·       One South Lane, No.1 South Lane, Shek Tong Tsui

·       Twilight Court, Peninsula Village, 2 Caperidge Drive, Discovery Bay, Lantau Island

·       Tower 1, The SeaCrest, 1 Hang Kwai Street, Tuen Mun

·       Tower 6, The Belcher's, 89 Pok Fu Lam Road, Pok Fu Lam

·       Block 1, Kwun Lung Lau, 20 Lung Wah Street, Kennedy Town

·       Wing Chak House, Chak On Estate, Chak On Road, Shek Kip Mei

·       135 Tuen Tsz Wai, Tuen Mun

·       Block A, Hoi Tao Building, 11 Belcher's Street, Kennedy Town

·       Grandeur Terrace Block 2, 88 Tin Shui Road, Tin Shui Wai

·       Tower 6, Albany Cove, Caribbean Coast Phase II, 1 Kin Tung Road, Tung Chung (excluding the Greenfield English (International) Kindergarten (Tung Chung) located on the ground floor of Tower 6, Albany Cove, Caribbean Coast Phase II and Tower 7, Albany Cove, Caribbean Coast)

·       Nam Tin Building, 275 King's Road, North Point (excluding the restaurant located on L1 floor and L2 floor of Nam Tin Building)

·       Block 6, Villa Athena, 600 Sai Sha Road, Ma On Shan

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3 lockdowns across HK as 2 locals test positive for Omicron strains

By The SUN

 

Compulsory testing at Nam Tin, where the infected female aircrew lives

Three buildings located in North Point, Tung Chung and Ma On Shan have been locked down overnight after two local residents tested preliminary positive for Covid-19 with the N501Y and T478K mutant strains linked to the Omicron variant.

One of the patients, a 50-year-old housewife, is suspected to have caught the coronavirus from the Moon Palace restaurant in Kowloon Tong where she had lunch around 12 noon to 2pm on Dec 27. Three other people who were there at the same time, including a Cathay Pacific aircrew, had tested positive for the coronavirus with Omicron earlier.

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According to a statement released by the Centre for Health Protection, the woman developed cough and runny nose on Dec 30 and was moved to Penny’s Bay Quarantine Centre the next day.

She lives at Block 6, Villa Athena, 600 Sai Sha Road, Ma On Shan, which has been locked down from 10:30pm Saturday as a precaution. All residents there will be tested before the lockdown is lifted at 8am Sunday.

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The CHP has issued an appeal to people who had meals at Moon Palace from 1pm to 3pm on Dec 27 to call its hotlines at 2125 1111 or 2125 1122 as soon as possible so they can be tested and contact tracing can be undertaken.

Earlier, two other buildings were locked down after they were linked to a female local aircrew who also tested preliminary positive for Covid-19 with the two mutant strains.

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The 28-year-old woman lives in Nam Tin Building on King’s Road in North Point but has stayed at a friend’s flat at Tower 6, Albany Cove, Caribbean Coast Phase II in Tung Chung since Dec 29. Both buildings were sealed off overnight so residents there could be tested.

Heavy police presence ensures nobody gets to leave the building during the lockdown

According to the CHP, the woman left Hong Kong on Dec 24 for the United States and returned on Dec 27 via flight CX885 from the US. She tested negative at the airport so was able to go home.

A specimen sample she gave at a community testing center tested negative on Dec 29 but she developed symptoms that evening. She consulted a private doctor on Dec 30, and her sample tested preliminary positive on Jan 1.

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Everyone who had stayed at either of the two places she visited will be required to undergo testing before 2:30am Sunday at temporary specimen collection stations set up in a restricted area. Residents are advised to stay put until all the test results have been ascertained.

In accordance with the latest rules anyone who resided in the same building as the patient suspected to have Omicron should undergo compulsory testing on days 2, 3, 4, 7, 12 and 19 after the confirmed case last stayed in the premises.

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Residents with related inquiries may call the hotline of the Home Affairs Department: 2835 1473, which started operating at 10.30pm Sunday.

The CHP said strict follow-up will be done on whether all persons concerned have complied with the CTN. Anyone found guilty of non-compliance may be fined a fixed penalty of $5,000.

In addition the person will be issued with an order to get tested within a specified period. Failure to comply with the order would make the person liable to pay a fine of up to $25,000 and sentenced to a maximum jail term of six months.

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9 of 17 new Covid-19 cases came from the Philippines

By Daisy CL Mandap

 

6 of the patients from the Phl flew via PAL, 2 on Cebu Pacific, and 1 on Cathay

A total of nine newly confirmed cases in Hong Kong today, Jan 1, had flown in from the Philippines, and all except one are foreign domestic helpers. All carry the mutant strains linked to the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. 

They were among a total of 17 new Covid-19 cases reported by the Centre for Health Protection, which include one involving a ground staff at HK Airport, classified as “possibly import-related.” They took Hong Kong’s total tally to 12,667. 

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The new arrivals from the Philippines include the six who all tested positive on their arrival at HK Airport on Dec 30, prompting the two-week suspension from yesterday of flight PR300 from Manila.

Five of them, aged 28 to 27, are all FDHs. One, aged 50, is not, and has also been identified as “possibly import-related.” Four of the FDHs and the local resident are asymptomatic while the remaining helper developed symptoms on Dec 29.

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Two of the other arrivals from the Philippines flew in by Cebu Pacific flight 5J272 on separate dates.

One is female, aged 42, who arrived on Dec 28 and had quarantined at iclub Hotel in Fortress Hill, indicating she was vaccinated in Hong Kong. The other is a 38-year-old male helper who flew in on Dec 29 and tested positive at Penny’s Bay Quarantine Centre.

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Another helper who came from the Philippines took Cathay Pacific flight CX906 on Dec 28. The 34-year-old female patient was staying at Pentahotel in Kowloon when she tested positive on her fifth-day test.

The recent surge in the number of travelers arriving from the Philippines with the mutant strains reflect an exponential rise in the number of Covid-19 infections in the country since after Christmas. The Philippines reported 3,617 new infections today, the highest since Oct 30.

Tests confirmed the 2 local cases of Omicron were linked to 2 CX aircrew

Meanwhile, the Centre for Health Protection in Hong Kong said complete genome sequencing of four cases involving two Cathay aircrew and two local residents showed they were genetically linked.

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One aircrew who arrived on Dec 24 met the next day with a colleague who had just flown into Hong Kong. Both tested negative on arrival, but were found infected with the Omicron variant on Dec 27 and 28, respectively.

On Dec 27 the second aircrew had lunch at Moon Palace Restaurant in Kowloon Tong, inadvertently passing the highly infectious variant to his father who was with him, and a second diner who was seated about 10 meters away.

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However, none of the 44 environmental samples taken by the CHP from the restaurant tested positive, reinforcing the view by one health expert that a short airborne transmission had occurred between the infected aircrew staff and the diner who was seated relatively far from him.

According to the testing and quarantine arrangements for local cases with mutant strains, everyone who resided or worked in the same building on specified dates as an infected patient will be subject to compulsory testing. 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).

The CHP reminded the public that those covered by a  CTN on the following premises must undergo testing tomorrow, Jan 2:

·       Wing Chak House, Chak On Estate, Chak On Road, Shek Kip Mei

·       Block A, Hoi Tao Building, Belcher's Street, Kennedy Town

·       Block 2, Grandeur Terrace, Tin Shui Road, Tin Shui Wai

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PAL banned from flying to HK after 6 passengers found with Covid-19

By Daisy CL Mandap 

PAL's passenger flights from Manila have been suspended until Jan 13

Philippine Airlines has been suspended from flying passengers from Manila to Hong Kong for two weeks, after six of its passengers aboard PR300 yesterday, Dec 30, tested preliminary positive for Covid-19 on arrival in Hong Kong.

The six who are all foreign domestic helpers, were not included in the list of 19 confirmed cases reported today, Dec 31, as they will need to test positive for the coronavirus a second time.

The flight ban which will be in force until Jan 13 is likely to throw into further disarray the phased arrival of thousands of FDHs from the Philippines who have been waiting for months to come to Hong Kong.

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PAL is the second airline plying the Manila to Hong Kong route to be banned from flying in. Yesterday, Cebu Pacific Airways flight 5J272 was meted the 14-day suspension after three of its passengers tested positive for coronavirus with mutant strains on arrival.

Today, five more passengers of 5J272, all FDHs, were included in the list of confirmed cases. They all flew in on Dec 27, along with the 36-year-old Filipina DH who tested positive on arrival at HK Airport and was today confirmed as the first Omicron carrier from the Philippines.

The five newly confirmed FDHs are all females and are identified as cases no 12642 (42 years old), 12643 (25), 12644 (36), 12645 (25) and 12646 (41).

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All of them are asymptomatic but carried the two mutant strains, N501Y and T428K associated with the highly contagious Omicron variant. They tested positive on their third day of quarantine at Penny’s Bay.

Also banned starting today until Jan 13 is Cathay Pacific flight CX873 from San Francisco, after three of its passengers tested positive on arrival in Hong Kong on Dec. 30.

The passengers comprise two females aged 28 and 65, and a 21-year-old male patient. All carried the two mutant strains associated with Omicron.

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Also among the 19 confirmed cases today are two men linked to a Cathay air cargo crew who had gone around the city two days after returning from the United States on Dec 25, and testing negative on arrival.

He was found to have Covid-19 on Dec 28 and later also tested positive for the Omicron variant.

Case 12673 is his 76-year-old father who had lunch with him at Moon Palace restaurant in Festival Walk in Kowloon Tong. Case 12654 is a 34-year-old male construction worker who ate with three relatives in the same restaurant but was at a table about 10 meters away.

The air crew is suspected to have spread Omicron in this Kowloon Tong restaurant

Both patients carried the two mutant strains linked to Omicron.

The rest of the confirmed patients also carried mutant strains. They comprise 10 males and nine females, aged 13 to 76. Five tested positive on their arrival tests and 12 while in quarantine. The two others are the import-related cases linked to the Cathay aircrew.

Among the 17 imported cases, three were in Hong Kong during part of the incubation periods.

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Case 12639 involves a 15-year-old girl who lives at 56 Repulse Bay Road, Block 2, Repulse Bay. She left Hong Kong for the US on Dec 12 and returned on Dec 28 by private jet.

She tested negative on arrival but her specimen taken at Penny’s Bay the next day tested positive. She had a sore throat on the same day and her sample carried the Omicron-related strains.

Case 12641 involves a 13-year-old boy who lives at Tower 1, Kwun Lung Lau, 20 Lung Wah Street, Kennedy Town. He left HK for the United Kingdom on Dec 16 and returned on Dec 25 aboard flight CX252.

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During his mandatory four-day stay at Penny’s Bay he tested negative. However, after he was moved to Best Western Hotel in Sai Ying Pun he tested positive and carried the mutant strains. He is asymptomatic.

Case 12648 involves a 16-year-old male student at West Island School and a resident of Block 2, Coastal Skyline, Tung Chung. He is a family member of an earlier confirmed imported case, 12624. He left HK for the US on Dec 16 and returned on Dec 28 by flight CX881 with case 12621.

A day after being sent to Penny’s Bay as a close contact of an infected patient he tested positive for Covid-19 with the mutant strains.

All the residential blocks of the three patients and the places they had visited during the incubation period, including the older boy’s school, have been included in a compulsory testing notice, in line with regulations.

Meanwhile, the CHP said that after complete genome sequencing, six more patients have been found to carry Omicron, including the Filipina DH who flew in aboard 5J272.

These cases involve three males and three females, aged 19 to 42 years old. Three of them tested positive on arrival tests and the other three tested positive during quarantine.

Including these six, a total of 87 Omicron cases have been detected in Hong Kong so far.

CHP also said that starting Jan 1, 2022, it will designate three categories of cases in its daily press releases. These are confirmed, asymptomatic and re-positive cases.

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