2 Filipina DHs found with variant on arrival, triggers likely flight ban

 By Daisy CL Mandap

The 2 FDHs found with the variant took Cebu Pacific flight 5J 272

Two Filipina domestic helpers who were found infected with Covid-19 on arrival in Hong Kong on Apr 15 and also carried the highly infectious variant, raised the possibility of a two-week  suspension being imposed on all flights from the Philippines within days.

They were among 18 additional Covid-19 cases reported today, Apr. 17, which included 10 imported and six local infections.

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Under more stringent restrictions that took effect on Wednesday, Apr 14, all flights from a place would be stopped for a fortnight if a cumulative number of five passengers from there are found to carry the N501Y variant on arrival in Hong Kong within a seven-day period.

The ban is triggered even if the passengers came from different flights, but does not apply when the infected passengers are found infected while under quarantine.

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In addition, the country is raised to the “extremely high risk” category, which apart from the temporary flight ban, would also cover those who had stayed there for at least two hours, even while in transit from another place.

The Filipinas, aged 28 and 29, flew in on board Cebu Pacific flight 5J 272, and were asymptomatic. They were the only imported cases reported to have the variant, known to be 70 times more infections than the common strain of the virus.

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Seven of the imported cases were returning residents from India, while the 10th is an Indonesian domestic helper who tested positive on her 19th day in hotel quarantine.

Two of the Indian returnees arrived on Apr 15 aboard flight QR 818, and tested positive at the airport.

The other five all flew in on Apr 4 aboard flight UK 6395, which is already under a two-week suspension over an earlier infraction.

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A government statement released today said KLM’s Flight 819 from Amsterdam has also been added to the list of suspended routes. 

The ban, which will last from tomorrow until May 1, was imposed after a passenger on the KLM flight on Apr 13 tested positive on arrival in Hong Kong, while another passenger failed to comply with pre-flight requirements.

Chuang says the 6 local cases with unknown sources cause concern

Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan from the Centre for Health Protection said that of the eight local cases, six are a cause for concern as their sources of infection are unknown. 

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They included a 29-year-old Indian man who flew in from Dubai and circulated in the community after completing his 21-day hotel quarantine on Apr 8.

The four other patients live in Tuen Mun, prompting Chuang to agree that there seems to be an unseen community transmission going on in the district. The cases are from different sectors, including a cook, an instructor, a taxi driver and a student.

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The sixth untraceable case is a 66-year-old man working as road maintenance staff and lives in Ngau Tau Kok.

Chuang said there were more than 20 preliminary cases, mostly imported.

But they also include 31-year-old kindergarten teacher who caused 100 people to be sent to quarantine, including her young students.

The woman whose source of infection is unknown, went to a variety of places during the incubation period, including Disneyland, a gym where she had Muay Thai classes, and a wedding banquet in Tsim Sha Tsui where there were around 200 guests.

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Health officials say they are investigating whether the social distancing restrictions were violated by those who organized the big wedding reception.

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Ramada hotels checked after first local Covid-19 case with variant found

By Daisy CL Mandap

No new case was found after Parkes building was locked down (RTHK photo)

Hong Kong health officials have ordered more than 80 residents of a building in Jordan to be moved to a quarantine centre after a man who had stayed there was found to carry the highly infectious coronavirus variant, N501Y. 

Health officials also said at a press briefing earlier today, Apr 17, that they have begun investigating the Ramada chain of hotels, particularly the one in Tsim Sha Tsui where the infected patient had spent his 21-day quarantine after flying in from Dubai on Mar 19.

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The patient, a 29-year-old Indian national who holds a Hong Kong ID card, was one of 18 new Covid-19 cases reported today. Ten of the cases are imported and 8 were locally acquired, six of them with unknown sources.

Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, who heads the infectious disease unit of the Centre for Health Protection, said the man’s case is worrying as it raises the possibility that he acquired the still-unclassified variant from the community.

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She said the man tested negative for the virus at the airport after his arrival, and to two tests given to him on his 12^th and 19^th day in quarantine at Ramada Grand in TST.

After his release from quarantine, the man moved to a friend’s flat in Parkes Building in Jordan. He strolled around the area, went to eat at Chung King Mansion in Tsim Sha Tsui, visited two bank branches, and even went with friends to Cheung Chau where they had a meal together on Apr 4. He was asymptomatic.

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It was only because he was planning to return to Dubai that he had himself tested for Covid-19 at a community testing centre on Apr 14, and was found infected.

“Yesterday, we discovered he was carrying the variant strain,” said Chuang.

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What worries health experts more is that the patient was found to have a heavy viral load, with a CT value of between 15 and 17, suggesting a recent infection.

Chuang said CHP is studying three possibilities for the cause of his infection. First, that he was infected in Dubai, but the virus took long to incubate; second, that the tests failed to detect his infection; and third and most worryingly, that he acquired the virus and the variant in the community.

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The CHP official said the third possibility is worrying because it means the source of the variant is undetected as well. The patient could have been infected on the plane, at the airport, or at the hotel during quarantine.

“So this is worrying, especially the third possibility,” she said. “But we are still investigating.”

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CHP controller Dr Ronald Lam disclosed that the investigation of the case has included a check on whether “there has been a lapse in infection control at the Ramada Hotel” or whether some environmental factors were involved.

An angle being considered is if the infection occurred during the patient's quarantine 

But Lam said an initial check of the room where the patient had stayed did not show any irregularity in the ventilation or in the drainage system.

“We will conduct the same investigation at other Ramada hotels,” he said, when asked about a series of cases involving travelers who had tested positive for both the coronavirus and the variant after spending their quarantine at one of the branches of the hotel chain.

Of particular concern is a case of three patients who quarantined at Ramada Grand View in North Point before being found infected. The three patients, involving a couple who arrived from Canada and a Filipina who stayed across them in a room on the same floor, were found to have the same genetic sequencing, suggesting they acquired the virus from the same source.

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Chuang said health experts had repeatedly checked the CCTV of the hotel to find any possible interaction among the three, but discovered they had all stayed in their respective rooms during the quarantine period. All three consistently maintained as well during interviews that they never left their quarantine.

The Hong Kong University is now said to be looking into dozens of Covid-19 cases that had been detected in the said hotels to find out if there was a possibility that cross infection had occurred.

As soon as the Indian patient was found to carry the variant, health officials locked down Parkes building starting on Friday night and early Saturday morning to test all residents there. But not a single new infection was found during the ambush lockdown.

Not content with this, authorities later ordered about 81 asymptomatic residents in the building to move to quarantine centers, including the infected patient’s friend with whom he lived after his quarantine. Anybody with symptoms was sent to hospital for isolation.

On top of this, a compulsory testing notice was issued for anyone who had stayed in the building for at least two hours between Apr 9 and 16. All those covered by the order must get themselves tested by tomorrow, Apr 18.

The same compulsory testing order was issued to all current residents of Ramada Grand, as well as those who had stayed there at the same time as the infected patient.

In the meantime, investigations are continuing into the places the patient had been to before he was found to have the virus.

Lam said that as a final measure to stop the spread of the virus and its highly transmissible mutations, all residents must get themselves vaccinated.

“Given the resurgence in cases, we ask you all to get vaccinated so we develop a community barrier, or herd immunity,” he said.

He cited as an example the significant drop in infections in Israel, after a large percentage of its population was inoculated against the coronavirus.

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UPAA-HK partners with PCG in hosting webinar on Covid-19 vaccine

By The SUN

The webinar will air live on FB on Sunday, Apr 18, 2-3pm

A webinar aimed at informing Filipinos in Hong Kong about coronavirus vaccines featuring Dr. Gerardo “Gap” Legaspi, Director of UP-PGH in the Philippines, will be broadcast live on Facebook tomorrow, Sunday, Apr.18, from 2:00 to 3:00pm.

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The talk and panel discussion, hosted by the University of the Philippines Alumni Association Hong Kong, will also include Consul General Raly Tejada.

It will be streamed live through the Facebook page of UPAA-HK and shared on The SUN Hong Kong and  PCG HK pages.

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Filipinos in Hong Kong, particularly migrant workers, are enjoined to take part in the webinar by posting questions and comments about the vaccines, including how effective they are in stopping Covid-19, and why it is important for most people to get vaccinated.

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Questions about the highly dreaded coronavirus mutations that appear to cause infection cases to surge in the Philippines, may also be asked. 

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All questions raised will be directed to either Dr Legaspi or  ConGen Tejada.

For more information, message UPAA HK through its Facebook page.

 

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Filipina serial shoplifter jailed 6 weeks

By Vir B. Lumicao 

The thief looted 2 DS Groceries shops 6 times in 12 days

A jobless Filipina resident was jailed for a total of six weeks, each week representing one count of theft she committed in two branches of DS groceries over a 12-day period.

J. Espiritu, 44, a former bar worker, was also ordered to pay $4,273 to the grocery chain, the total amount of the goods she had taken, after she  pleaded guilty to six counts of theft in Eastern Court on Friday, Apr. 16.

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Appearing before Magistrate Peter Law, Espiritu admitted the two sets of offenses, one comprising four shop thefts between Mar 22 and Apr 3, and another involving two counts of the same offense on Apr 1.

Court records show she went to the DS Groceries on the ground floor of Eastern Centre at 1065 King’s Road, Quarry Bay, at 7:30pm on Mar 22 and stole one pack of Melty Kiss chocolates and six bottlers of Nutella hazelnut spread with a total value of $426.

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On Mar 28, around 9:45pm, she returned to the store and filled her bag with assorted chocolates, seven bottles of Nutella, three bottles of Cetaphil skin cleanser and two cans of sardines, with a total value of $1,548, then left without paying.

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The shop manager noticed the chocolates were gone when he inspected the shelves before closing time. He reviewed the CCTV and saw Espiritu taking the goods and putting them into her bag.

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In the second set of charges, Espiritu was accused of stealing from the DS Groceries shop in Causeway Road, Happy Valley on Apr 1. Her loot consisted of assorted chocolates and two cans of luncheon meat worth a total of $818.

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Earlier that day, at 3:08pm, she took 40 packs of Toblerone, five packs of M&M, one pack of US Pie chocolates and two cans of Libby’s sausage from the same store, with a total value of $1,042.  

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She was caught on Apr 3 after she returned to the Happy Valley store and took 23 packs of Cadbury and four packs of Melty Kiss chocolates valued at $531.

Unknown to her, the manager in the Quarry Bay store had gone to the Happy Valley branch that same day to view the CCTV footage there. He saw Espiritu, in the same clothes and same pair of shoes she wore during the Quarry Bay raid, in the act of shoplifting.

The manager went outside and waited. As soon as Espiritu went out, he stopped her and checked her bag. When he saw the stolen items he called the police, who arrested Espiritu.

The prosecutor said the defendant had three previous convictions for similar offenses.

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In mitigation, the defense lawyer said the defendant was a divorcee who lost her job in a bar and admitted stealing the chocolates to send to her son in the Philippines.

Magistrate Law ordered Espiritu to compensate Dai Sang Group International, owner of the store chain, for the unrecovered chocolates. Then he sentenced her to 7 days in prison, to be served consecutively for each of the six charges.

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4 Indonesian DHs arrested for illegal dental work

By Daisy C L Mandap 

Many pseudo dentists advertise their services on social media

Four Indonesian domestic helpers who allegedly used a room in a guest house during Sundays and holidays to clean teeth and install dental braces on their fellow workers were arrested on Thursday and Friday by Immigration officers.

A statement released late on Friday in the government website said the Indonesians, aged between 31 to 35 years old, were arrested for breaching their conditions of stay by practicing dentistry without a license.

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The domestic helpers were reportedly picked up in their employers’ houses. Seized from them were several items, including business cards and an account book.

The illicit operation had reportedly been carried out by the accused for more than a year in a Mong Kok guesthouse.

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The government statement said Immigration was tipped off about the illicit operation, but was not given names or the specific times when the dental services were provided.

But “after an in-depth investigation and intelligence analysis,” Immigration officers managed to identify the suspects and track them down.

A Philippine TV documentary shows the ill-effects of having braces installed by hacks

Preliminary investigations reportedly showed that the helpers never received any formal dental training. Their employers were not aware of their illegal activity.

The statement said the investigation is ongoing, and that there is a possibility that more people will be arrested.

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“The arrested helpers have breached their conditions of stay. Apart from that, practicing dentistry without registration will also threaten the health and lives of Hong Kong citizens and will very likely increase the risk of the spread of the epidemic. The situation is absolutely unacceptable,” said the statement.

It also urged people who report crimes to provide more information to speed up the enforcement and investigation by authorities.

The selling of brackets, nylon binds and other equipment used for braces, as well as offers of brace installation, are often seen in social media posts by FDHs, including Filipinos.

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According to some posts on popular FDH sites, the brace installations are carried out in public openly, including on the pavements of Central.

The illegal practice continues despite warnings from dentists, including those in the Philippines, about the dangers of getting someone untrained to do the delicate procedure, which could lead to inflamed gums and tooth loss.

Construction sites were among the targeted locations

Meanwhile, Immigration today issued a statement on the government website that a total of 17 suspected illegal workers, including eight holders of recognizance documents, were arrested during joint operations with police between Apr 12 to 15.

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Ten suspected employers were also detained.

In two raids codenamed “Twilight” and “Rally”, 35 premises were targeted, including a commercial building, construction sites, factories, massage parlors, recycling depots, residential buildings, restaurants, retail shops, a salon and a warehouse.

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Six men and four women, aged 22 to 57, were arrested for suspected illegal work. Four were found to have recognizance status, while the rest were suspected of using and possessing forged HK ID cards.

Five men and one woman, aged 31 to 58, suspected of employing the illegal workers, were also arrested.

In a much bigger operation codenamed "Champion" and "Powerplayer",  136 premises were targeted including the airport cargo terminal, loading and unloading platforms in the New Territories and Western District, massage parlours, offices, a park and warehouses.

The operation netted five men and two women, aged 31 to 56, suspected of doing illegal work. Four of the men were on recognizance.

One man and three women, aged 40 to 54, were also arrested on suspicion of employing the illegal workers.

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The Immigration statement warned that visitors who take up illegal work, whether paid or unpaid, could be liable to a maximum fine of $50,000 and up to two years’ imprisonment.

Illegal immigrants or those subject to a removal or deportation order who are found to engage in illegal work face a stiffer penalty of up to three years in jail and a maximum fine of $50,000.

For people who hire illegal workers, a steep fine of up to $350,000 is prescribed, apart from a maximum jail term of three years.

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