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HK health officials warn of shortage in hospital beds amid surge in virus cases

Posted on 31 March 2020 No comments
By The SUN

Isolation rooms in some public hospitals are said to have all been allocated to virus patients

Hong Kong health officials have warned that public hospitals are about to run out of isolation rooms as the daily infection rate in the city continues to surge.

Another 41 cases were reported on Monday, Mar 30, taking the overall tally to 682. The number of new cases has risen sharply since hundreds of residents have been returning from heavily infected places overseas.

Of the confirmed cases so far, 554 remain in isolation, while 124 patients have been discharged upon recovery.

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At their daily press briefing, health officials said 39 confirmed Covid-19 were waiting to be admitted to hospital as a result of the shortage.

The issue was raised in the wake of a report that a man who lives in a subdivided flat was taken to hospital two days after testing positive for the disease.

Dr Lau Ka-hin, the Hospital Authority’s chief manager in quality and standards, said the waiting time for confirmed patients depends on the number of patients admitted each day.
“For example, six were discharged today, but that’s still less than those admitted,” he said.

Lau said some hospitals are already filled to capacity, although on average, the occupancy rate is about 77 percent for all.

As back-up, the officials said about 400 ward beds are being converted into “second-tier isolation beds to help free up space in the coming days.
Lau said an infections disease committee under HA has determined that the second-tier rooms will be used by recovering patients who haven’t had fever for more than 48 hours, who had no symptoms or diarrhea and do not require oxygen support, and have shown improvements in blood tests.
 
Dr Chuang and Dr Lau at the daily press briefing
The number of new cases has been in the double digits even after the government imposed travel restrictions on Mar 25. Many of the new arrivals are students returning from overseas, or residents who had visited countries in Europe or the United States during the incubation period.

Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the communicable disease branch of the Centre for Health Protection, said that of the 41 new cases, 34 had travel history; 17 of them are students returning from overseas.

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But Chuang there is also a number of the new cases which make contact tracing difficult, because the source could not be identified.

“This situation is worrying because there are cases where the source is not known,” she said.

She advised everyone to heed the government’s advice to maintain good personal hygiene and stay at home as much as possible.

For the first time in a week, only one case was linked to the so-called band cluster, where 68 people with links to four bars across Hong Kong have been found infected. The lone case today involved a student nurse who visited All Night Long in Tsim Sha Tsui.


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Mom’s death new blow to DH wrongly accused of having Covid-19

Posted on 30 March 2020 No comments
By Vir B. Lumicao

Marilou is shown waiting for her test result, which turned out to be negative

A Filipina domestic worker who was locked out and wrongly accused by her employers of carrying the coronavirus on her return from Manila on Mar 20 has received yet another blow.

Marilou L., posting from her hotel room where she is spending her 14-week home quarantine after testing negative for the virus, announced the demise of her mother on Mar 28.

The distraught worker did not mention the cause of death of her mother, who her friends called Nanay Elis. She did not respond, either, to queries sent through messenger.


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In earlier post on Facebook on Mar 28, Marilou lamented her mother’s passing while she was confined to her hotel room because of the mandatory quarantine. She said she was filled with grief because she would never see her mother again.

She later replaced that with a deeply spiritual grief quote from Indian poet and author Nishan Panwar: “Death takes the body. God takes the soul. Our mind holds the memories. Our heart keeps the love. Our faith lets us know we will meet again. [I love u very much].”

The latest blow came as Marilou struggles with the specter of losing her job. Just before she moved to the hotel to resume her quarantine, she asked her female employer if she could resume work with them but got no definite answer.

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The succession of adverse events began when the single mother went home on Mar 16 for a supposed month-long vacation. She had just decided then to renew her employment contract with the Hong Kong family that she works for at the Olympic in Kowloon.

She said she had barely savored her reunion with her 16-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son when her employers recalled her to Hong Kong because of news that the situation in the Philippines was getting worse due to the pandemic.

On Mar 20, she flew back to Hong Kong, arriving in the evening. The next morning, her female employer heard her cough due to a sore throat and became hysterical. She said her employers immediately told her to leave because she had put them at risk of getting infected by the virus.
She sought help online from the community and through a private message, and calmed down only after Welfare Officer Virsie Tamayao of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration talked to her and her employers.

On the same day she was fetched by an ambulance and taken to the North Lantau Hospital for Covid-19 tests that turned out negative after hours of waiting.

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At dawn on Mar 22, she was put in the hotel by her male employer, who gave her $5,000 for her expenses throughout the quarantine period.

But her female employer, accordingly the more hysterical of the spouses, indirectly told the helper she does not want her back for fear of the infection.

She will find out what fate awaits her when she finishes her quarantine on Apr 5.
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Plane on medical mission crashes at NAIA, kills all 8 people on board

Posted on No comments
by The SUN


The Lionair plane caught fire before it could even take off (photos from Philip Lustre)

A Lionair West Wind aircraft said to be on a medical mission to Japan caught fire as it was taking off at Ninoy Aquino International Airport earlier tonight, instantly killing all eight people on board.
Killed were three flight crew, a doctor, nurse, a Canadian patient and his companion.

Lionair plane Flight RPC 5880 was about to fly off to Haneda airport in Japan when it exploded at about 8pm. The fire was put out at 9:02pm.

The runway was temporarily closed while the Civil Aeronautics Authority is investigating the incident, said a statement released by the Manila International Airport Authority.

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MIAA confirmed that no passenger survived the accident.

A flight manifest circulating on social media named the fatalities as Ren Edward Ungson, Melvin de Castro and Mario Medina, pilots; Edmark Dael, flight medic; Dr. Cenover Bautista, Conrado Tomeldan, Jr., nurse; John Richard Hurst, patient; and Marilyn de Jesus, companion.
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Filipinos keep off Central as new social distancing measure takes effect

Posted on 29 March 2020 No comments
By The SUN
Statue Square on a Sunday has never been this near-empty, except during last year's protests

The favorite haunts of Filipino migrant workers in Central were mostly quiet on Sunday, Mar 29, as a new government regulation to limit the number of people gathering in public places to no more than four, took effect.

Few Filipino workers taking their day off were seen in Statue Square, their favorite meet-up place in the financial district, obviously mindful of the new restriction which goes with a $25,000 fine and six months’ imprisonment.

The same was true on the footbridges, parks and pedestrian walkways surrounding the area, from United Centre in Admiralty, to the HSBC headquarters on Des Voex Road, City Hall and General Post Office in Edinburgh Place, and World Wide House on Connaught Road.
Most of the workers gathered in groups of four or less, in line with the restrictions announced on Friday, Mar 27, and will last for the next 14 days. But a few did not seem to pay heed as they played cards, or haggled with itinerant vendors still plying their wares.

A number of police officers roamed the workers’ favorite haunts, but appeared to be more intent on giving reminders instead of warnings.
Consul Paul Saret, head of the Consulate’s assistance to nationals section, said he expected the authorities to just issue a warning and not arrest anyone for violating the four to a group restriction.

“Siguro naman ho hindi sila ganyan ka istrikto sa unang araw,” he said.
Consul Saret says police won't be so harsh as to arrest anyone of the day the regulation took effect

A police spokesman confirmed this. “In the early days of the implementation of the regulations, the police will remind the public to cooperate with the requirements of the regulations through verbal explanations, exhortations or warnings.

“To prevent the spread of the epidemic, public awareness cooperation is more effective than law enforcement. The police appeal to the public to comply with the new regulations. They must cooperate immediately when facing police enforcement actions and remind everyone around them to cooperate.”
The officer said that when public health is threatened, everyone has to work together to fight the epidemic.

For migrant domestic workers, the message was given more emphasis when the Labour Department issued advisories on two consecutive days, advising them to stay indoors, or if they do go out, to make sure there were no more than four of them in a group.

Dolores Balladares, chairperson of United Filipinos (Migrante) in Hong Kong, said there were even fewer people in the morning in Central, when her group went around to inform fellow workers about the new regulation.
Balladares displays her group's poster reminding migrants about the prohibition against big gatherings

“Marami ang hindi nag day-off ngayon, kasi kinausap ng kanilang mga amo,” she said. “Nasa sa kanila na yun kung papayag sila, pero sinabihan pa rin namin sila na karapatan nila ang mag day off kung gusto nila, o kailangan.”

Balladares said one of her members had asked if she could insist on going out because she needed to send money home, but the veteran leader said she advised her to just ask for another day when she could do this.

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Over at St. John’s Cathedral on Garden Road, the surrounding area which normally teems with hawkers and people offering services like manicure and haircut, was unusually  quiet and deserted.

Esther Bangcawayan, a case officer of the Mission for Migrant Workers which has its office in one of the buildings in the area, noted that many workers appeared to have heeded the call to stay at home on their rest day.

“Wala namang problema sa atin iyon, basta huwag lang pagtrabahuhin ng mga amo nila. Para sa kabutihan din naman nila,” said Bangcawayan.
Chater Garden is eerily empty

The few workers who did venture out passed their time sitting on concrete benches making calls, or tinkering with their phones.

“Halos walang tao ngayon, natakot sila sa balitang magmumulta ng $25,000,” said Aling Estrella, who said she had hung out on a covered promenade in Chater Garden for years. “Dati-rati marami sila rito, mga taga-Nueva Vizcaya, kumakain at nagkukuwentuhan habang nagpapahinga,” she said.

But she conceded it was a good way of avoiding the infection.

At Tamar Park in Admiralty, Jena Carrera and a friend sat on the grass enjoying their lunch.

Jena said she was lucky to have employers who still allowed to take her day off, but only cautioned her to stay away from crowds.  
Jen and friend had Tamar Park all to themselves

Only World-Wide Plaza, known as the Filipino business hub in Hong Kong, still drew in the crowds as workers went there to remit money to their families or pick up Filipino goods.

It's business as usual in World-Wide Plaza

Guards at the mall marshaled the flood of people getting in, but, unlike in most other establishments, there was no temperature check for customers.

It’s still early days, but on this day at least, Filipinos showed they were one in ensuring the community’s safety amid the raging pandemic.
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