Warning against family gatherings as 81 new Covid-19 cases found

By The SUN

Chuang says 2 family gatherings last Sunday ended in 20 people getting Covid-19

Two days before the start of the Lunar New Year, an official of the Centre for Health Protection has reiterated a warning against family gatherings involving different households, which is a common local practice at this time of the year.

Speaking at today’s press conference where she announced that 81 new Covid-19 cases were detected overnight, Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan said two cross-family gatherings held on Jan.23 each involving a dozen or so people, resulted in 10 attendees getting infected in each group.

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However, she declined to give any more details, saying she wished to just give an example of what could happen in such settings.

“This coming Lunar New Year, I understand many families would like to get together. I just want to say, be careful especially if there are elderly people involved or some people are not vaccinated. There may be some complications,” she warned.

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The same warning has been issued repeatedly by other health officials, particularly the Secretary for Health Prof Sophia Chan.

More than 1,000 patients are now confined at various public hospitals across HK

Meanwhile, Hospital Authority chief manager Dr Sara Ho also warned about the rise in the number of people getting hospitalized for Covid-19.

She said the number of people confined in various infection units and public hospitals has now climbed to 1,002, although all are in stable condition.

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The number of patients getting discharged each day continues to be just a fraction of the daily hospital intake. In the past 24 hours only 23 patients were discharged while 120 people were confirmed positive for the coronavirus yesterday.

Dr Chuang said that of the 81 new cases, 77 were locally acquired while four were imported. Among the local cases 62 were linked to previous infections while 15 are unlinked.

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About 70 preliminary positive cases have been reported.

While no new cases were detected in units not previously associated with a positive case in Kwai Chung Estate, Chuang said a cluster of cases has emerged from three housing blocks. These are  Yau Lai Estate in Yau Tong and Shek Yam East Estate in Kwai Chung and Tivoli Gardens in Tsing Yi.

A number of units had to be evacuated in each of these housing blocks where environmental contamination is suspected to have occurred.

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Of today’s 15 unlinked cases, the majority involved the Omicron variant, and the rest, Delta.

Dr Chuang said they live in various places, including Tsz Wan Shan and Wong Tai Sin for the Delta cases; and Tuen Mun, Yuen Long, Kwai Ching, Tai Wo Hau, Sha Tin, Tai Po, To Kwa Wan, Tung Chung and Kwun Tong for Omicron carriers.

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Filipino who allegedly threatened to burn down Consulate arrested

By Daisy CL Mandap 

Security has been tightened at the Consulate after the man's arrest

A Filipino male resident had to spend the night at the Central Police station on Monday, Jan 24, after he was arrested for threatening staff at the Philippine Consulate and pushing one of them to the ground as he was being subdued after brandishing a golf club.

Hong Kong Police said the man is 41 years old and a resident. He was arrested on suspicion of committing common assault and possessing an offensive weapon but was released on police bail.

A spokesman said no charges have been filed yet as investigations are continuing.

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According to an officer of the Consulate who asked not to be named for security reasons, part of the bail conditions imposed on the arrested person is that he should not approach any of their staff and should not enter the Consulate premises.

The officer also said more charges could be laid against the accused as they had filed a separate complaint against him after he allegedly threatened to burn down the Consulate and kill staff during calls he made to their listed number.

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He said the Consulate has already turned over to the police the CCTV footage taken during the alleged assault and the audio recordings of his threatening phone calls.  

In his calls, the man reportedly said “papatayin ko kayo” (I will kill all of you), after saying he would burn down the Consulate.

The ATN section used to be accesible to the public (file)

Police say the accused arrived at the Consulate at about 10:30am on Jan 24, brandishing a golf club which measured 77 cm in length. They received a phone call from one of the staff after the man allegedly started wielding the club and threatening staff.

Consulate insiders said the man arrived with not just a golf club but also his baby. After handing the baby to one of the people inside the premises, he started swinging the golf club while making threats. 

Several male staff managed to subdue him, but only after one of them was pushed to the ground by the suspect.

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According to the officer, the man had been agitated because of a long-running dispute with his wife who has already gone home to the Philippines.

After the Consulate was asked to intervene, the wife reportedly promised to file a petition for annulment in the Philippines but failed to do so because of a lack of funds.

The man reportedly vented his ire over this at the Consulate’s ATN section, saying they should have made sure his estranged wife kept her promise.

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“We told him repeatedly that we did not have the power nor the right to compel his wife to file for annulment,” said the officer. “All we could do is advise them on how they could resolve their marital dispute.”

“Hindi niya maintindihan o ayaw intindihin ang ganoong paliwanag. Pinilipit niya na dapat sabihan namin ang asawa niya na ituloy ang pag file ng annulment.”

(He couldn’t, or wouldn’t understand what we kept telling him. He kept insisting that we should tell his wife to pursue the filing of an application for annulment).

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As a result of the incident, security has been tightened at the Consulate, with all visitors to the closed-off ATN section being barred entry unless they have provided their personal details and the purpose of their visit at one of the windows in the public area.

“We have to protect not only the Consulate and our staff but also members of our community who come to us for services and assistance,” said the officer. 

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Pinay, pinagmulta dahil sa paggalos ng kotse ng kapitbahay

 

Inamin ni Garcia ang kasalanan nang humarap sa Kwun Tong Court

Ano ang gagawin mo kung inis na inis ka na sa kapitbahay ng amo mo na laging nagpa-park ng kanyang kotse sa inyong daanan?

Ang ginawa ni M. V.  Garcia ang nagdala sa kanya sa Kwun Tong Magistracy sa demandang criminal damage, sa harap ni Principal Magistrate Bina Chainrai.

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Ayon sa dokumentong binasa sa kanya at isinalin ng interpreter sa Ilocano, ginalusan ni Garcia ang kotse ng kapitbahay nila sa Sai Kung nang tatlong beses mula Agosto hanggang Oktubre ng 2021.

Ang sagot niya sa lahat ng paratang: Guilty.

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Bago nagsabi ng kanyang hatol si Judge Chainrai, hiniling ng abogado ni Garcia na hindi ito ikulong ng dahil sa nagawa niya, lalo at agad naman niyang inamin.

Isa pa, kasama sa kanyang trabaho bilang domestic helper ang mag-alaga ng isang may Alzheimer's disease na kailangan siya araw-araw.

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"She is sorry for what she has done (nagsisisi siya sa kanyang ginawa)," dagdag ng tagapagtanggol.

Dagdag pa ng abugado, mula pa noong 1993 ay nagtatrabaho na sa Hong Kong si Garcia at may malinis siyang rekord. 

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At, sa edad na 64, siya pa rin ang tumutustos sa ikinabubuhay ng kanyang pamilya sa Pilipinas -- dalawang anak, apat na apo at ang kanyang ina na 84 taong gulang.

Sumagot dito si Chainrai: "She should not support them, should she? (Hindi na niya dapat silang suportahan, hindi ba?)" 

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Maliban sa hindi pagsang-ayon sa napiling pamumuhay ni Garcia, hinatulan ni Chainrai ito ng multang $1,000, at $2,000 bilang kabayaran sa nasira niya.

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120 new cases recorded, including 29 more from Nepal Air flight

By Daisy CL Mandap

 

The number of infected passengers from Nepal Air's flight on Jan 25 has now reached 65

Health authorities have reported 120 new Covid-19 cases today, Jan 29, the seventh day in a row that the daily tally has been in the triple digits.

Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan from the Centre for Health Protection said the locally acquired cases numbered 86, with 75 of them linked to previous infections.

She also reported 11 more unlinked cases, further fueling fears of several silent transmissions going on, involving both the Omicron and the Delta variants. The number of cases whose sources have yet to be traced has now reached around 50, mostly in Kowloon and the New Territories.

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Of today’s cases, 34 were imported, 29 of them newly detected infections from the virus-plagued Nepal Airlines flight RA 405 which arrived in Hong Kong from Kathmandu on Jan 25. A total of 36 passengers from that flight tested positive on arrival, prompting a two-week suspension of that route. 

Today’s additional cases were caught during Day 3 of mandatory testing. They raised the total infections from that flight to 65, the highest ever recorded for an arriving passenger airline in Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, new infections have also been found among residents of Kwai Chung Estate, site of the biggest outbreak of the Omicron outbreak in the city. The tally from this cluster has now gone up to 416, involving 210 residential units in 14 housing blocks.

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The bulk of the cases came from Yat Kwai House, where 274 residents and staff have been found incted. Next is Ying Kwai House with 92 confirmed cases.

Chuang said they believe this transmission route has already been plugged, as most of the new cases now involve residents who were already in quarantine, after being identified earlier as close contacts of previous patients.

However, she said it is possible that there may still be outbreaks in the estate in the future, so residents may need to be tested again.

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The last of the extended lockdowns on three buildings in the estate ended today.

Chuang also reported on two cases that have been classified as possibly import-related, as both work at Hong Kong International Airport.

One is a 24-year-old male who hands out testing bottles and ushers in arriving passengers. He tested positive on Jan 27 but negative two days earlier.

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The other is a 54-year-old male washing room attendant. He cleans toilets that are accessible to arriving passengers.

Among the linked cases is a worker at Cape Collinson Crematorium, four students at the Yuen Yuen Institute Secondary School in Tseung Kwan O, two staff at Hong Kong Day restaurant at the Far East Financial Centre in Admiralty, and a person who tested positive for the Delta strain after visiting the Little Boss pet shop in Mong Kok on Jan 16.

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Of the 11 unlinked cases, two were found to carry the Delta variant. One lives in Shun Kwong Centre in Wong Tai Sin and the other in Kwun Tong, Sau Ma Ping.

Chuang said eight carried the Omicron variant while one did not produce enough sample for testing. They live in various places like Kwai Fong, Laguna City, To Kwan Wan and Shatin.

Dr Sara Ho, chief manager of the Hospital Authority, said 20 patients had recovered in the past 24 hours, while 891 are still being treated in various infection control centers and public hospitals.

“There are more and more admissions so we now need more manpower,” Dr Ho said.

She appealed to retired health workers to help in the government’s effort to contain the spread of the virus by filling up job vacancies in the public hospital system.

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Jobless and penniless, Filipina with late-stage cancer set to fly home Feb 4

By Daisy CL Mandap

Young mother Cyril has difficulty getting out of bed because of her cancer

A Filipina domestic helper whose cervical cancer has deteriorated to stage 4 is set to fly home to her family in San Jose, Antique on Feb 4, after the agency that placed her with her last employer agreed to shoulder the cost of her air ticket and that of an escort.

Cyril S. Galvez, who will be celebrating her 36^th birthday on Feb 26, will go home in a wheelchair as she is said to be too weak to even get out of her hospital bed in Queen Elizabeth Hospital. She is also in pain from tumors in her lower back.

Her sister, Mary Grace G. Latorilla, who also works in Hong Kong as a domestic helper, told The SUN her family would have wanted Cyril to go home on a stretcher as she has difficulty sitting down but the fare for that would cost more than $30,000 which they don’t have.

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She said she and some of Cyril’s friends have initiated a fundraiser but the money that they managed to raise was just enough for the patient to have some pocket money for her return home. Cyril has two small children, aged 9 and 11, with her partner who is currently unemployed.

Cyril used to hike in her spare time before she was diagnosed with cancer

Initially, they had sought help for Cyril, thinking that they would have to shoulder her air fare, but a timely intervention by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration has resolved the issue.

Welfare Officer Virsie Tamayao informed The SUN that after Cyril’s case was brought to their attention they immediately contacted her last employment agency and they immediately agreed to shoulder the cost of two air tickets.

“The agency has already bought the tickets, including that for the escort. Flight on Feb 4 via Cathay Pacific,” said Tamayao in a text reply.

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OWWA also committed to help transport the patient to Hong Kong International Airport, then have her fetched at Ninoy Aquino International Airport for her onward trip to Iloilo City where she will be taken to a hospital.

According to Latorilla, her sister was diagnosed with stage 2 cervical cancer in March last year, and with help and support from her employer then, was able to undergo chemotherapy and radiotherapy. “Naging ok siya” she said. (She became ok).

Thinking that she was well enough to continue working and also because she wanted to continue providing for her two children, Cyril signed up with a new employer in September last year.

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But the stress of adjusting to a new job apparently caused her cancer not just to return but deteriorate. In October, just a month after she joined her new employer, she was told her cancer had returned.

With her sick leave exhausted, her employer terminated their contract early this month, and booked her return air ticket for Jan 16. Cyril was paid more than $7,000.

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Unfortunately, three days before her flight she had to be rushed to Queen Elizabeth Hospital after she suffered from extreme stomach pain while in a boarding house. The doctor who attended to her said she had to be operated on immediately due to kidney malfunction.

Cyril and Grace share a meal in a boarding house just before she was rushed to hospital

“Nung pagdala namin sa ospital nagtanong kami sa doctor kung bakit ganun na sitwasyon nya e stage 2 pa lang siya. Bakit ang mga organ niya naapektuhan na? Tiningnan ng doctor ang computer, at ang sabi, nasa stage 4 na siya,” said Latorilla.

(When we took her to the hospital we asked the doctor why she was in that situation when her cancer was only at stage 2. Why were her organs affected? The doctor checked the computer and said, ‘She’s already at stage 4’)

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After her operation, the doctor said she could already go home, but she could not be discharged as she had nowhere to go. Besides, she no longer had an air ticket to use in flying home to the Philippines.

A group of her friends posted an urgent appeal for help, saying Cyril needed to fly home immediately as was her wish. The doctors also reportedly warned them that her condition could deteriorate fast.

Luckily, with OWWA’s help, the air tickets were secured. Latorilla said her sister had hoped to go home earlier, and was in tears when told she had to wait a few more days to go home.

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But there is nothing left for them to do now but wait. “Magpapasalamat po ako talaga kung makauwi na siya nang maayos at makita niya ang mga anak nya,” said Latorilla.

(I will be really grateful if she could just go home without a hitch so she could see her children).

Those who wish to donate to Cyril’s needs may send money to Latorilla’s Alipay account, 91558279. Her QR code is here:

 

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