Filipinos among 17 people fined $5k each for violating gathering rules

By The SUN 

A Filipina is asked for her identity proof by police enforcers on Chater Road

At least one Filipino male was made to pay the fixed penalty of $5,000 after being caught in public on Sunday, Feb 13, without a mask on.

This was according to bystanders who witnessed the apprehension near Statue Square in Central.

The man had reportedly taken off his mask to drink and did not put it back on. He was throwing rubbish into a large trash can in the area when an officer spotted him.

In contrast, a large group of Filipinos that gathered near the IFC building in Central with their masks off got off lucky as they were just given a verbal warning.

However, neither incident could be independently confirmed with the police.  

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Another Filipina is shown in a photo supplied by the police in the act of showing her identity documents, but it could not be confirmed if she was being ticketed or was just given a warning. 

A police spokeswoman told the SUN earlier today that they could not give additional information on the 17 people who were fined $5,000 each for violating the tightened gathering restrictions imposed since Thursday amid the massive surge in Covid-19 cases.

However, those fined were most likely FDHs as the sweeping operation was conducted only among known haunts of helpers in Hong Kong.

According to the statement issued by the police and the Food and Environmental Health Department last night, another 11 people were given verbal warnings.

In addition, the FEHD said it arrested three persons for illegal hawking in public places in the vicinity of Connaught Road and the subway near Chater Road in Central, as well as in the vicinity of Sugar Street and Victoria Park in Wan Chai.

They also seized abandoned items including cooked food weighing about 48 kilos.

A group is questioned, apparently for group gathering violation

The police, along with staff of the FEHD, Labour Department and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, roamed known haunts of FDHs across several districts to ensure the stricter gathering regulations are complied with.

According to the tightened restrictions under cap 599G, a maximum of two people are allowed to gather in public. Failing to wear a mask in public is also an offence under Cap 599I.

Those who violate both regulations are subject to a fixed penalty of $5,000 each. The fine was doubled starting Thursday for those caught not wearing a mask on public transportation, and those who do not comply with a compulsory testing notice.

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The police issued photos accompanying their press release showing the Filipina on Chater Road being asked for her HKID card, and another of a group being questioned by several officers.

However, the police did not make it clear if the ones questioned were fined or just given verbal warnings.

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One group that gathered on Chater Road to film street dancing and record messages for an online campaign were approached by the police and reminded about the gathering regulations.

A shot taken by the police from an elevated place shows most people stuck to the strict gathering rule

The police told the organizers that someone had informed them that a large gathering was going to be held at the site starting at 3pm, and they wanted to make sure no violation would be committed.

The officers left without issuing any penalty ticket after being assured that no mass gathering was being organized, and that participants had been told to strictly follow the two-to-a-group regulation.

According to the government statement, the joint operations were held in Central and Western, Wan Chai, Yau Tsim, Mong Kok, Sham Shui Po, Shatin, Sai Kung and Tsuen Wan districts.

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The teams distributed leaflets advising the public about the enhanced regulations and used loud speakers to broadcast the reminder in multiple languages in the vicinity of Statue Square, Chater Road, City Hall and Tamar Park in Central.

‘Crisis’ as HK logs 2,071 new confirmed cases, 4.5k more preliminary positive

By Daisy CL Mandap 

Dr Ho says a crisis looms with hospitals unable to give space for all infected patients

Hong Kong's infection tally has surged to unprecedented levels with 2,071 Covid-19 cases confirmed today, Feb 14, and a further 4,500 diagnosed as preliminary positive. Four deaths were also reported.

Speaking at today's press briefing, Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre for Health Protection said the government laboratory had been so overwhelmed yesterday that they were not able to confirm cases that had been referred to them as preliminary positive.

“About 2,000 cases have been confirmed but we have around 4,500 cases who are preliminary positive so we communicated with our laboratory and we understand that there were about 1,500 to 2,000 other cases that were not tested yesterday because of a backlog,” said Chuang.

“We expect those cases to be confirmed today.”

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Dr Sara Ho, chief manager of the Hospital Authority, called the current situation a crisis, with more than 90% of all hospital beds occupied and more than 1,000 other infected patients waiting to be hospitalized.

She called for the public’s understanding, saying health workers have been overstretched, given that thousands of cases have been detected daily in the past few days.

“We are dealing with a crisis now, so let’s join hands and help support our staff,” she said.

She added that the HA has been faced with manpower shortage because a number of hospital personnel have been testing positive.

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As of today, she said 40 more staff in various hospitals have tested preliminary positive, but the infection came mostly from the community. About 50 patients have been identified as close contacts.

In the past few days, the HK reported that no less than 50 of its staff had tested positive for Covid-19.

Despite such setbacks, Dr Ho said staff have been exerting effort to make sure the public health system does not collapse.

She also reported two new deaths of patients in hospitals after being diagnosed with coronavirus.

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One of them is a 77-year-old man who was hospitalized on Feb 12 at Eastern Hospital where he tested preliminary positive. His condition worsened rapidly and he passed away at 4:50am today.

Another was an 82-year-old man who was taken to Princess Margaret Hospital on Feb 11 after developing a fever. He tested preliminary positive on admission. His conditioned worsened and was certified dead at 2:17 am today.

Chuang says two infected elderly men died before being diagnosed

Separately, Dr Chuang reported on two elderly men with Covid-19 who died before they could be diagnosed. 

They were a 73-year-old living in Lam Tin and a 77-year-old who lived in Yau Ma Tei. They were tested positive in mortuaries.

Chuang also mentioned more infections being reported from elderly care homes involving staff and residents, including one in Sham Shui Po, another in Tuen Mun, and another in Prince Edward.

Ten patients were also reported as critically ill, including a three-year-old girl who is intensive care at Children’s Hospital.

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She reiterated that the new health protocol gives priority to the elderly, children and those in serious condition when admitting patients to hospitals.

She also said those who test positive and are in relatively good medical condition should isolate at home while waiting to be admitted to a hospital. They will be given a hotline that they could call if they need medical advice or any help while in home quarantine.

If any of the confirmed patients isolating at home develop shortness of breath, fever, increased heartbeat, or become half-conscious, their relatives or anyone looking after them should call for help immediately.

The doctors again emphasized that the current protocol is for all infected patients to be put in a hospital or isolation facility.

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Only those who are close contacts are allowed to isolate at home for either 14 days or 4 days depending on the level of proximity to an infected patient. While under home quarantine they must wear a tracking bracelet and should monitor their condition daily.

Meanwhile, Dr Chuang said among the confirmed cases today were 19 imported cases. All came from Cathay Pacific flight from Indonesia, resulting in a ban being imposed on the said flight for the next 14 days.

1,347 confirmed cases logged, 2k more preliminary

 By The SUN 

Children will now be among those given priority in admission to public hospitals

Health officials have recorded 1,347 Covid-19 cases today, Feb 13, with about 2,000 more testing preliminary positive, including a three-year-old in critical condition.

According to Dr Larry Lee from the Health Authority, the girl was admitted to Prince of Wales Hospital yesterday, before being sent to Children’s Hospital when her condition deteriorated. She is now in intensive care.

Two other patients are said to be in critical condition, while those classified as serious remain at 16.

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Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan from the Centre for Health Protection said there has been a spike in cases among young children in the fifth wave, with around 4% of patients being under the age of four.

Dr Lee said that with public hospitals reaching saturation point, priority for admission will be given to children, the elderly and those in serious condition.

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To free up more hospital beds, patients currently in stable condition at the North Lantau Hospital Infection Control Center will be moved to AsiaWorld Expo. This will allow more elderly and children patients with Covid-19 to be admitted to hospital fast.

As of 9am today, there were 1,300 confirmed patients receiving treatment in 14 public hospitals. There are a further 2,100 patients at Penny’s Bay isolation center, North Lantau ICC, the HA Infectious Disease Centre in Princess Margaret Hospital and AWE.

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Dr Lee repeated the advise that infected people who are healthy, young and those showing minor symptoms should remain at home and wait for a call from the HA to be placed in a hospital.

There will be a hotline that they can call, but patients are urged to be considerate and leave the hospital rooms and beds for those who need them more.

In the meantime, the HA will reduce non-emergency services and use resources to help more Covid-19 patients.

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Lee said the HA does not rule out shutting down some hospitals and turning them into Covid facilities if the situation deteriorates further.

Hospitals might be turned into Covid facilities if the surge in Covid-19 cases continues

The CHP said that for the past two weeks until yesterday, a total of 7,609 coronavirus cases were recorded. The locally acquired cases totaled 7,494 and 115 were imported.

Dr Chuang said the patients ranged in age from 1 month to 104 years old.  Fourteen percent of the cases were under 18 and 11% were aged 65 and above.

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More than half, or 55%, have taken at least two shots of the vaccine.

Most of the positive patients live in Sha Tin, Sham Shui Po, Tuen Mun. In January the high risk places were Kwai Tsing, Wong Tai Sin and the Outlying Islands.

For patients that tested positive for the Omicron variant, the median age is 39 years old. Fifteen of the cases are under 18 and 10.6% are aged above aged 65.

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The patients who received at least two shots of a vaccine make up 55% of all cases.

For the Delta variant, the median age is 50 years old, and 8.7% of the cases are under 18 and 24% are aged above aged 65. Those who have taken at least two vaccine doses make up 49%.

Dr Chuang also noted that the number of confirmed cases have been doubling every two days for the past week. On Feb 6, there were around 200 cases, on Feb 9 this went up to 400 cases and on Feb 11^th, 800 cases  were recorded.

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HK food supplies to return to normal

Goods trucks carry food imports from China.

The supply of food in Hong Kong is expected to return to normal when deliveries resume due to the opening of new interchange venues for Mainland and Hong Kong goods vehicle drivers, Hong Kong officials said today.

A shortage in fresh vegetables and meat have been felt in Hong Kong since Feb. 8 when deliveries were disrupted due to the closure of an interchange after two cross-border truck drivers tested positive for Covid-19, and other drivers hd to be quarantined.

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In a press statement, the Hong Kong government said the Shenzhen Municipal People's Government opened temporary interchange venues yesterday (February 12) morning. 

 “The Mainland authorities and the HKSAR Government are working closely together to firm up the detailed arrangements to expedite the logistics of food supply for Hong Kong so as to resume the supply situation to normal as soon as possible,” it added. 

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The new venues will replace the one closed temporarily last Feb. 8 for disinfection.

An earlier press release cited Mainland authorities as saying a cross-boundary goods vehicle driver planning to return to Hong Kong and another driver under the closed-loop management in the Mainland tested positive in Covid-19 nucleic acid tests on Feb. 7.

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The authorities took swab samples and disinfected the interchange premises visited by the drivers. This resulted in other drivers at the venue to be held until epidemic control work had been completed at around 9pm. Those in close contact with the two drivers were held at nearby hotels for quarantine.

To recover from the delays, the operating hours of the control points on both the Guangdong and Hong Kong sides were extended, but a number of northbound goods vehicles drivers who were allowed to leave immediately aborted plans to cross into China and returned to Hong Kong.

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As a result, deliveries of fresh produce at the wholesale markets were down two-thirds on Feb. 8.

Hong Kong imports 90 per cent of its food supplies from China, according to figures from the Food and Health Bureau.

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China is the leading source of Hong Kong’s supply of fresh pork, chilled and frozen pork, eggs, as well as fresh, chilled and live chicken.

Hong Kong has an agriculture industry made up of some 2,400 farms employing 4,300 farmers and workers in Hong Kong, producing fresh vegetables, pigs and poultry for local consumption. Its production, however, meets only a small portion of Hong Kong’s needs.

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In 2017, the agriculture sector supplied some $966 million worth of produce, and accounted for less than 0.1% of Hong Kong's Gross Domestic Product, according to a report from the Legislative Council Commission.

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No lockdown planned, Chief Secretary says

By  The SUN

 

CS Lee is flanked by other officials who joined him in talks with their mainland counterparts

Just hours after a top health official said a citywide lockdown was possible if the Covid infection rate continues to climb, Chief Secretary John Lee said no such scenario was being planned.

Speaking at a late-night press briefing Saturday after a day of talks with Shenzhen officials, Lee said the government is confident the promised assistance from the central government would help Hong Kong curb the mounting number of coronavirus cases in the city.

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“At the present moment we don’t have this plan (lockdown) because we believe that with the enhanced measures that we have introduced, it will take its effect because we have just introduced some tighter social distancing measures,” he said.

“Also with the assistance from the mainland we believe that our capability will be increased, and we’ll be seeing positive improvement in those areas.”

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His comments came after Dr Edwin Tsui, controller of the Centre for Health Protection said during the daily press briefing on the Covid situation in Hong Kong that extreme measures like a lockdown could not be ruled out if the infection rate continued to worsen.

Hong Kong posted yet another record-high 1,514 confirmed infections Saturday, with about the same number of preliminary positive cases. Three new deaths were also reported.

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According to Lee, the Guangdong Province and Shenzhen Municipal Government have assured Hong Kong that it will have enough supply for daily necessities.

Vegetable prices in HK soared after a cross-border truck driver tested positive for Covid-19

Fears mounted in the past few days that food supply from the mainland would be severely reduced after a cross-border truck driver tested positive, holding up deliveries and causing the prices of vegetables in Hong Kong to soar.

In addition, the mainland officials reportedly agreed in principle to extend help to Hong Kong in its effort to contain the spread of Covid-19.

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The following are the areas where help could be extended:

1. The deployment of mainland experts to help with genetic sequencing
2. Boosting Hong Kong’s testing capacity to about 300,000 per day
3. Construction of more isolation facilities
4. Providing rapid antigen test kits
5. Providing hospital beds, masks and other protective gear.

   

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·         According to Lee, five special cross-border task forces will be set up immediately to respond to Hong Kong’s concerns.

·        He gave no specifics about what each group would do, but said that how things are run in the mainland may not be suitable for Hong Kong so adjustments will have to be made.

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·         He also said mainland authorities fully support Hong Kong’s “dynamic zero policy” of infection control.

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Filipina charged with stealing $99k from wheelchair-bound employer

By Daisy CL Mandap

 

Aballe was the alleged victim's constant companion for 8 years

A Filipina domestic helper appeared in Eastern Court on Friday, Feb 11, charged with stealing her elderly employer’s Visa card and using it to deceive him into taking out an overdraft in the amount of $99,000.

Richiebelle A. Aballe, 41 years old, is also accused of stealing the Tudor watch of her employer Chung Chi-kwong who is 91 years old and is mostly confined to a wheelchair, on Dec 15.

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According to the charge sheet, the two alleged thefts happened at Chung’s house on the 30^th floor of Tung Yip House in Lei Tung Estate, Ap Lei Chau.

Aballe is also charged with obtaining property by deception by allegedly using Chung's Hang Seng Bank visa card to take out the ovedraft between October 2019 and October 2021.

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However, despite an amount being stated in the charge sheet, prosecutors told Magistrate Ada Yim that the police needed to conduct further investigation into how much money the accused had allegedly taken.

On their application, the magistrate adjourned the case to Apr 8. She also ordered Aballe remanded in custody after being told by her lawyer that no bail application was to be made on her behalf.

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The dimunitive Aballe, a single mother of a grown-up daughter, only looked at the Tagalog interpreter throughout the hearing, and indicated through her that she understood what was going on, before being led away from the dock.

Her employment record shows Aballe had worked for Chung for the past eight years.

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