The SUN HK

The three imported cases included two flight attendants, a 26-year-old female and a 33-year-old male, who visited Turkey, Germany and Japan. The third case was a man aged 51 who arrived on Dec 28 from Brazil and experienced discomfort during quarantine.

Chuang said 19 of the new cases were linked to previous ones, with 16 related to the confirmed cases in the Central-Kowloon route construction site on Saturday while nine had untraceable sources.

The new patients, 20 of whom were males and the rest females aged from 7 to 80 years old, brought the total tally of cases in Hong Kong to 9,243. There were some 30 preliminary-positive cases, Chuang said.

Chuang says there are more than 30 preliminary positive cases

One was a night staff at Yi Wo Yuen Aged Sanatorium Centre in Hung Hom who was found preliminary positive Saturday, leading to the placing of 31 residents and 15 staff of the elderly home under quarantine.

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She said of the preliminary-positive cases, 13 were linked to prior cases.

Dr Linda Yu, chief manager at the Hospital Authority, said as of 9am today, 601 positive patients were being treated in 23 public hospitals and the AsiaWorld Expo community facility.

She said 39 patients were in critical condition, 44 in serious condition and the remaining 518 in stable condition.

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As of 9am today, 48 confirmed patients had been discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours, bringing the total discharged patients to 8,422 confirmed and one probable case.

Yu said one patient died in the last 24 hours, bringing the death toll of patients in public hospitals to 154.

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Filipina, Indon DHs among 56 new Covid-19 cases

Posted on 09 January 2021 No comments

By The SUN

Both FDHs arrived on Jan 7, one from Manila, the other from Jakarta and Singapore

A total of 56 new Covid-19 cases were reported today, the highest in more than a week.

They comprised 53 local cases and six imported ones, including two domestic workers from the Philippines and Indonesia, who both arrived on Jan 7 and tested positive at Hong Kong airport.

The 40-year-old Filipina flew in aboard Cathay Pacific flight CX 906 while the 47-year-old Indonesian was on Singapore Airlines flight SQ822, and came from Jakarta via Singapore.

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The four other imported cases were three returnees from Pakistan, and one from Russia.

According to Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan from the Centre for Health Protection, 33 of the local cases were linked to previous infections, while the 20 others were from unknown sources.

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Chuang said the second consecutive day with a high proportion of unlinked cases may be the result of the long holiday when a lot of people were out, and several invisible transmission had taken place.

More than 20 preliminary positive cases were also recorded.

Among the new cases were six linked to construction work on a tunnel of the Central- Kowloon route at Ma Tau Kok. Another worker tested positive earlier, making the total infections linked to the cluster at seven.

Everyone who had been at the site between Jan 3 to 9 will have to undergo compulsory testing.

Two patients passed on in Caritas Medical Centre

Meanwhile, Dr Linda Yu, chief manager at the Hospital Authority, reported the deaths of two infected patients, both of whom were at Caritas Medical Centre. An 86-year-old male patient died at 2:17pm, while a 71-year-old patient, also male, succumbed at 2:45am.

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Including the two, a total of 155 confirmed patients have died in public hospitals.

Yu said that as of 9am today, 592 confirmed patients were in 23 public hospitals and the treatment facility at AsiaWorld-Expo. Among them, 39 are in critical condition, 44 are serious, and the remaining 509 are stable.

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Two hospital-related infections were also reported. At Kwong Wah Hospital, a 47-year-old male patient tested preliminary positive after being admitted for a headache. One patient has been listed as close contact, while five others have been put under medical observation.

At Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital, a 61-year-old female patient who tested negative initially was found infected after admission. Five other patients in the same ward tested negative, while another still needs to be tested.

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FDW numbers may fall further as anti-virus moves hit employers’ pockets

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By Vir B. Lumicao

These Filipino workers sent off by the Consulate were among those who lost their jobs in HK

The coronavirus pandemic and urgent measures to cope with it led to a drop of more than 25,000 in Hong Kong’s foreign domestic workers’ population last year.

The full-year impact of Covid-19 is evident in the latest statistics from the Hong Kong Immigration Department.

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Last year, the city’s Filipino domestic workers population fell 12,326 - from 219,728 in January to 207,402 in December. The Indonesian helpers’ number shrunk even more, from 170,898 in January to 157,802 in December, a loss of 13,096.

The dramatic drop in the FDW population was due to a combination of factors directly related to Covid-19, as the viral contagion that began in Wuhan City in China’s Hubei Province crept to Hong Kong, before it swept across the globe.

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Hong Kong was not spared from the overall economic decline, and with businesses collapsing and revenues falling to a trickle all around, many employers were forced to terminate their helpers’ contracts.

The subsequent move to impose mandatory hotel quarantine and Covid-19 testing for travelers further drove up the costs of hiring imported helpers, as employers were told to bear all these additional expenses.

Many workers stranded by travel restrictions and lockdowns in both the Philippines and Indonesia also contributed to the decline, as employers were forced to abandon plans of hiring from abroad and just choose from terminated workers who were available in the city.

A decision by the Health Department to require compulsory 21-day hotel quarantine starting Dec 25 for all arriving passengers, except those from China, would likely raise further the cost of hiring a FDW.

The mandatory 21-day quarantine forces employers to dig deeper into their pockets

Already, this could have led partly to the massive 1,275 drop last month in the number of Filipino DHs here. The decline reversed a three-month surge in their numbers, which peaked at 2,372 between August and September this year.

Things could get worse by the end of this month, as the Immigration Department served notice on Dec 30 that it would revert to its long-standing policy of giving terminated helpers only 14 days to remain in the city.

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With many FDWs still stranded abroad and the hundreds of terminated workers on visitor’s visas in the city about to be sent home, the number of those who remain here could only dwindle further.

The church-based charity, Mission for Migrant Workers, can see it coming. As of Jan. 7, or a week since the hardline policy was reimposed, three terminated helpers had already reported to them about being denied a visa extension.

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In one such letter sent to a terminated helper, the Immigration Department said: “Dear Sir/Madam, I regret to inform you that your application for an extension of stay submitted on 23-12-2020 has been refused. Please note that you are permitted to remain in Hong Kong up to 11-01-21 and you are required to leave Hong Kong on or before this date.”

Mission case officer Esther Bangcawayan said two of the helpers were fortunate because they found new employers in the nick of time, and had submitted their signed contracts to Immigration before the rejection letters could reach them.

But she agrees the tightening of Immigration rules could only lead to further woes for migrant workers, and to more sharp declines in their numbers in the coming months.

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FDWs reminded anew to observe gathering rules as 45 Covid-19 cases reported

Posted on 08 January 2021 No comments

By The SUN

Among the targeted places is this footbridge in Mong Kok

The Labour Department says an inter-agency patrol of favorite haunts of foreign domestic workers will continue this weekend, and warns “enforcement action” will be taken against those who still refuse to follow social distancing measures.

A statement released today, Jan 8, said Labour, along with the Hong Kong Police, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, the Home Affairs Department and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department will again take part in the joint operation.

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Among the places they will monitor are Central, Tamar Park in Admiralty and the footbridge near Fa Yuen Street in Mong Kok, which are all known hangouts of Filipino and Indonesian domestic workers.

The task force will, in particular, target those who violate the regulations that prohibit more than two people to gather in public, or mandate the wearing of face masks in all public places and mass transportation.

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Violators are liable to pay a fixed penalty of $5,000, which is more than the minimum monthly salary of an FDW.

The advisory said that during the New Year holidays last week, the joint forces issued 51 fixed penalty notices, but did not indicate how many, if any, of those penalized were FDWs.

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Meanwhile, the daily Covid-19 cases increased slightly to 45, which health officials say they find worrying.

Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the communicable disease branch of the Centre for Health Protection, said the fluctuating numbers indicated the epidemic has yet to be put under control.

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Of the new cases, 42 were locally acquired, and 22 of these were from unknown sources, up from five the previous day.

Chuang said the figures could reflect the situation late last month or the start of the year, when there were lots of people on the streets because of the holidays.

The large holiday crowds could have led to a surge in untraceable cases

“It’s worrying, but it may reflect the fact that there were a lot of people on the streets recently, so the risk of transmission was high,” she said.

She said many of the new unlinked cases did not attend mass gatherings lately, suggesting there are still a lot of undetected infections in the community.

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