CE Lam and key officials take first Covid-19 jabs

By The SUN 

CE Lam takes the first Covid-19 jab in front of TV cameras

Chief Executive Carrie Lam and her top officials became the first people to receive the Covid-19 vaccine in Hong Kong.

Lam, Chief Secretary Matthew Leung, Justice Secretary Teresa Cheng, Security Secretary John Lee and Health Secretary Sophia Chan were among those who received their jabs at the Central Library in Causeway Bay, in a process covered live on TV.

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The CE said they received the vaccine from mainland company, Sinovac. By taking the lead, she said her government was hoping to reassure the public that the vaccines are safe.

“I have to assure every Hong Kong citizen that the government is very serious about the safety, efficacy and quality of vaccines. We will only use vaccines which meet those high standards before we put it into the government vaccination program,” she said.

Key officials got the Sinovac jab after CE Lam to show support for the inoculation program

A recent survey showed only 39% of Hong Kong’s 7.5 million residents are planning to get the jab, amid fears over their safety and efficacy.

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Clinical trials show that the vaccine from Sinovac, a million doses of which were flown in from Beijing on Friday, Feb. 19, has an efficacy rate of between 50 and 62 percent.

The one manufactured by German firm BioNTech, which is due to arrive in Hong Kong at the end of the month, has been shown to be 95% effective but has to be stored in extremely cold temperature.

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Online registration for the shots for those in the “high priority” groups - including those aged 60 and above, medical staff and other frontliners and residents in care homes - begins tomorrow, Feb 23.

The mass vaccination will start on Friday, Feb. 26.

The CHP reported 16 new coronavirus cases through a press statement

Meanwhile, the Centre for Health Protection reported 16 new Covid-19 cases today, which took Hong Kong’s total infection tally to 10,885.

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Three of the new cases are imported, and all involved returning foreign domestic workers from Indonesia, aged 21, 22 and 45.

In a press statement issued in lieu of the daily briefing, the CHP said of the 13 local cases, four had unknown sources while nine were linked to previous infections.

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The four untraceable cases included a postnatal care helper, two retirees and a computer officer. All asked to be tested after developing symptoms like sore throat, runny nose, diarrhea, shortness of breath, cough, headache and shortness of breath.

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Overstaying Filipina charged with laundering $691k

By Vir B. Lumicao 

Dirty money was deposited into FDHs' accounts, then withdrawn using their ATM cards

A Filipina domestic helper appeared in Eastern Court again today, Feb. 22, charged with overstaying her visa and laundering a total of $691,056 through her HSBC bank account between May 2019 and August last year.

The court was told that Hong Kong police launched an investigation into the account of Kris Hope Vargas, who used to work here as a domestic helper, after the suspicious transfers to her account were detected.

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Magistrate Bina Chainrai ordered the charges read to Vargas, who emerged in the dock wearing a grey sweatshirt and her hair tied back in a pony tail. She last appeared in court on Jan. 25.

According to the charges, the money was deposited and withdrawn by unknown persons in an ATM account that Vargas opened in Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp earlier in 2019. The transactions continued even after she had gone underground when her visa expired.

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When the bank noticed the suspicious money movement, it alerted the police. Vargas was arrested on Nov 20 last year on suspicion of “dealing with property known or believed to represent proceeds of indictable offence” and violating her visa conditions.

The prosecution said the overstaying charge resulted from her failure to leave Hong Kong after her visa expired on Mar 10 last year, following her premature dismissal from work the previous month.

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Prosecutors said they were ready for the defendant’s plea, but her lawyer asked for an adjournment for further investigation and legal advice.

The defense lawyer also asked for $2,000 bail for Vargas, who has been in police custody since her arrest, but the magistrate refused the application.

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The magistrate adjourned the case until Apr 9 and ordered the defendant remanded in custody.

Most of the recent cases involved HSBC ATM savings accounts

In the past few months, the police have arrested a couple of Filipino and Indonesian domestic helpers whose bank accounts were used by unknown people to launder money.

In most of the cases, the helpers were helped to set up ATM savings accounts by people who offered them part time work, saying their payments would be deposited there directly.

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Syndicates then transferred money into the bank accounts, then used the helpers'  ATM cards to take out all the cash within hours.

The helpers only realized they had been dragged into a money laundering scam after they received notices from the bank about suspicious activities in their accounts, or when the  police came knocking on their doors.

The recent cases prompted the Consulate to warn Filipinos in Hong Kong against lending their ATM cards and account passwords to other people, whether friends or strangers.

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Police out in force again to enforce social distancing

By The SUN 

Police going around with loudspeaker reminding the public about the rules

Many foreign domestic workers played cat-and-mouse with law enforcers on Sunday, Feb. 21, as they tried to avoid being caught violating distancing restrictions, including one that allows only up to two people to gather in public.

Police officers, along with staff of various government departments, took to busy spots across the city again to enforce the anti-pandemic rules which were eased considerably starting Thursday.

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Most venues closed since mid-November have been allowed to reopen, and restaurants can now sit up to four people to a table, and offer dine-in services until 10pm from the previous 6pm.

However, the rule that forbids more than two people to gather in public has been extended for another week, or until Mar. 3.

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Despite the continuing effort to get the unusually heavy crowds of people in known haunts of FDWs in Central and Causeway Bay to keep social distancing, the law enforcers were noticeably more lax in their approach.

Hard to maintain social distancing on busy Chater Road

The officers patrolled the areas throughout the day and could be seen issuing warnings, but did not appear to have issued anyone with a fixed penalty ticket costing $5,000 apiece.

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Instead, they largely went around with a loudhailer reminding everyone about the social distancing regulations, and would just pause every now and then to issue verbal warnings to various groups that squatted or stood close to each other.

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Many FDW groups kept lookouts so that as soon as a police entourage made its way towards them, they would split into groups of two, and keep or face away from each other. Once the coast was clear they would resume their group activities that included eating, chatting and dancing together.

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As the weather had turned hot, not a few could be seen taking off their masks, or taking refuge beyond the allowed number inside tents scattered by the roadside.

Indonesian workers at Victoria Park gather close to each other

Over at Victoria Park in Causeway Bay, a police van could be seen parked near where groups of Indonesian domestic workers were gathered, but officers were few and far apart, and seemed oblivious to the violations being committed.

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Elsewhere in the city, people were out in droves, taking advantage of the warm weather and the more relaxed enforcement of the law. With the mass inoculation against Covid-19 about to start, everyone, it seemed, was hopeful the dark days of the pandemic are about to end.

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FDH with prolonged sore throat infects employer, two young wards

By Vir B. Lumicao 

Chuang says the FDH did not seek medical help immediately after developing symptoms

A foreign domestic helper had reportedly infected her female employer and her two young daughters, aged 1 and 2, despite testing negative when she took a coronavirus test two weeks after her symptom began.

Health department staff said today, Feb 21, that they could not ascertain the helper’s nationality.

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The employer, her daughters and the helper, who was tested again, were among the 20 new cases recorded today, which brought Hong Kong’s total tally to 10,869.

Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan from the Centre for Health Protection said in today’s press briefing that the helper, aged 35, had a sore throat on Feb 3.

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Then her one-year-old ward developed a symptom on Feb 9, followed by her 29-year-old employer on Feb 12, and her two-year-old ward on Feb 14. On Feb 16, the helper took her specimen to the hospital with the help of the employer and initially tested negative.

The helper underwent a second test and was confirmed positive yesterday, along with her employer and the two toddlers. They all live in Tower 1 of The Apex in Kwai Chung.

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Chuang said the employer and her family were infected as the helper had a rather high CT value of 37 due to her long period of having the symptom before she went for a test. 

The Apex in Kwai Chung where the helper lives with her employer's family

The lone imported case was a 68-year-old woman who arrived on Feb 20 from India via flight AI 1314 and tested positive at the Asia World Expo testing facility. 

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The CHP official said six of the new patients were identified in compulsory testing sites.

Six of the 19 local cases have untraceable sources while 13 were linked to other infections.

There are also more than 10 preliminary positive cases, Chuang said.

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Chuang said one of the six with untraceable sources was a man aged 72 who lives in Block 1 of Sceneway Garden in Lam Tin where compulsory testing was held on Feb 17.

She identified another of the six as a public light bus driver without a fixed route but who last plied the Laguna City, Kwun Tong-Castle Peak, Tsuen Wan route. He must have contracted the virus by handling money paid by his passengers, Chuang said.

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Chuang advised all passengers who might have taken that minibus to go for a checkup if they don’t feel well.

The CHP official said there was an outbreak at the Caritas Lok Yi School on Lei King Road, Sai Wan Ho, where a male staff and two male students were confirmed positive today. Two other staff members and another student were preliminary positive cases.

She said 40 staff of the school and 20 students will be quarantined due to the outbreak.

The staff who worked at Caritas Lok Yi School also worked as a male social worker at the Hong Shi Pinehill School.

Six residents and a dozen staff members of the school who the patient had been in contact with will have to be quarantined, said Chuang.

She also said about 100 officers and staff of a property company in Shamshuipo were sent to compulsory testing and quarantine after one IT staff there tested positive and another tested preliminary positive despite being not close contacts.

CHP would not say if the fourth wave of infections has eased

Asked if she thought the fourth wave of the pandemic was stabilizing, Chuang said she could not comment on that.

“With any relaxation of social distancing, any gatherings, there are threats of transmissions, so the public have to be careful in observing hygiene as much as possible and try to reduce big gatherings as much as possible,” Chuang said.

“So I would describe the current situation as not yet completely stabilized.” 

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No one injured in ceiling collapse in Central MTR

By The SUN

Photo shared on Facebook shows the torn ceiling still hanging from above

Train commuters had a narrow escape Saturday night when a false ceiling collapsed near the escalators inside the Central MTR station.

The MTR Corporation later issued a statement saying no one was injured in the incident and its train services were not affected.

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People who were in the area at the time recalled hearing a loud noise and passengers running frantically to avoid being injured. Afterwards, they saw the ground covered with concrete chunks and part of the ceiling torn off.

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MTR staff rushed to seal off the area and stop three escalators from running.

MTR staff were quick to cordon off the area and stop the escalators from running

A police spokeswoman said they received a report at 6:51pm that a piece of the false ceiling, measuring roughly 1 metre by 0.5 metre, had collapsed near platform number three, but no one was hurt.

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In its statement, the MTR Corp said station staff and engineers were sent to the scene, and the collapse had not affected train services.

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“After initial inspection, engineers believe loose concrete resulted in the collapse. They will continue to follow up and investigate the cause thoroughly,” the statement read.

“The area remains condoned off until the area is confirmed to be safe.”

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The MTR said it has now sealed off the area and will investigate what caused incident.

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