Filipina DH found with variant 5 days after quarantine

By Daisy C L Mandap 

The Filipina spent her quarantine at Ramada in Sai Ying Pun

A Filipina domestic helper who had moved in with her employer on Kennedy Road in Mid-Levels after finishing her 21-day quarantine on Apr 17 has been found to carry the coronavirus variant, according to the Centre for Health Protection.

She is the fourth person in the community to have been found with the highly infectious N501Y variant.

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CHP’s Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan said that as in two similar cases found previously, there was a possibility that the helper was infected after arriving in Hong Kong, possibly during her hotel quarantine.

A check into the records of Ramada Seaview Hotel in Sai Ying Pun where she stayed showed that when she was there, she was next to a family of three, who were later found to carry the mutated strain.

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Chuang said investigators are looking into the possibility of a cross infection at the hotel.

In the first local variant case, an Indian man who tested positive for the South African variant was found to have quarantined on the same floor of Ramada Grand Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui as two FDHs who were found to carry the mutant strain.

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Similarly, an Indonesian DH who stayed at the hotel at the same time but on a different floor, was confirmed to have the variant on Apr 20, two days after submitting to compulsory testing following the discovery of the Indian man’s case.

The third case involves the Indian man’s Hong Kong-based girlfriend with whom he stayed in a Jordan flat after being released from quarantine.

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As in the two newly arrived patients, Chuang said there were other possibilities as to how the Filipina helper got infected.

“Either she’s an imported case but was not picked up during the quarantine, or she acquired the infection during the quarantine period…or while staying with the employer’s family,” she said.

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After being released from her quarantine on Apr 17, the Filipina helper moved in with her employer who lives with family members, as well as two other FDHs.

On Apr 19 she went for a body check at Melbourne Plaza in Central, and also to her employment agency, as well as the Hong Kong Immigration Department.

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Yesterday, Apr 22, she was sent to the Leighton Community Center to get herself tested for Covid-19 again, and the result was positive.

As a precaution, her employer’s family and the two other helpers have been moved to a quarantine center. Also sent there were the guests of Ramada SYP who had stayed on the same floor as she during her quarantine.

Chuang said other people she had close contact with, either at the agency or the clinic, would also be sent to quarantine.

The helper was one of two preliminary cases reported today. The other one is a male driver at the Home Affairs office in Sai Kung who lives with his family in Tseung Kwan O. His source of infection is also unknown.

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The man was found to have visited Physical Fitness and Yoga in TKO  at exactly the same date and time as a woman who was found infected previously, leading to concerns of another gym outbreak similar to what happened at Ursus Fitness last month.

The man was at Physical at the same time as a woman found infected earlier

An additional nine cases were reported, eight of them imported. The source of infection of the only local case is unknown.

Among the imported cases, three carried the variant, including two Filipina domestic workers who flew in on Cebu Pacific flight 5J272 on two separate dates, Apr 10 and 11, and tested positive while in quarantine.

Another Filipina DH who took the same flight on Apr 13 developed a runny nose while in quarantine, and tested positive after being taken to hospital.

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The third patient found to have the variant is a passenger from the Netherlands who flew in via KLM flight 819.

A third FDH who tested positive while under quarantine came from Indonesia on Apr 17 via Cathay Pacific flight CX 918.

According to Chuang, the samples from one Filipina DH and the lone Indonesian helper were the only positive cases from among the 30 mistakenly classified as preliminary cases yesterday.

A cross contamination of the samples in the laboratory of BGI appeared to have resulted in 27 cases being wrongly declared as positive. The result for one case is still being awaited.

All the 27 patients had tested negative for the virus upon admission to hospital, as well as for antibodies. Chuang said that as a precaution, they will be tested again and if the results are negative, they will be released from hospital.

That means most of the 78 people moved to quarantine centers as a result of the wrong positive results will be released as well.

Meanwhile, the sole local case is a 23-year-old woman who lives in block 10 of South Horizons and works in Kwai Chung.  During the incubation period she frequented a Pacific Coffee outlet near her office.

She also went shopping at Festival Walk in Kowloon Tong with her family, and had meals with friends at Shanghai Lao Lao restaurant in South Horizons and Thai Basil in Admiralty.

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Over 200 OFWs set to fly home as PCG pushes for accurate virus tests in Manila

By Daisy CL Mandap 

The Consulate is appealing to Philippine authorities to ensure credible and accurate Covid-tests

The Consulate has urged the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila to look into the faulty Covid-19 tests done on departing overseas Filipino workers, seen as the main reason why Hong Kong recently imposed a two-week ban on all flights from the Philippines.

Consul Paul Saret, head of the Consulate’s assistance to nationals section disclosed this, along with the announcement that another planeload of stranded OFWs in Hong Kong is set to fly to Manila early tomorrow.

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Speaking on The SUN Interviews aired live on Wednesday night, Consul Saret said the Consulate has already made two requests to DFA to coordinate with concerned government agencies to look into the false negative test results given to infected OFWs bound for Hong Kong.

Saret said the first request was made soon after Cathay Pacific’s flight from Manila was suspended on Mar 15 after five of its passengers, all Filipino domestic workers, tested positive on arrival at Hong Kong airport.

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“Ngayon, dahil sa (total) ban, nag request na naman kami sa DFA na we better coordinate closely with those in charge of monitoring, especially yung mga papunta ng Hong Kong, kasi tayo rin ang naaapektuhan. Yung record natin, nakakapagpaalis tayo ng mga positive sa Covid."  

(Now, because of the total flight ban, we again requested DFA to coordinate closely with those in charge of monitoring, particularly those bound for Hong Kong, because we have acquired a reputation for allowing those infected with Covid to leave the country).

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He said what the Consulate wants is for the DFA to coordinate with the Department of Health and the government’s Inter-Agency Task Force on Covid control on how the testing done in the Philippines could be accurate or fool-proof.

Saret says the appeal for more accurate testing was first made after Cathay's Manila flight was banned

Edwina Antonio, case officer of the Mission for Migrant Workers and executive director of Bethune House Migrant Women’s Refuge, said that the inaccurate test results impact OFWs the most because many lose their jobs as a result.

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“Ang epekto nito sa kanila ay perhuwisyo at sama ng loob,” Antonio said. (They go through so much difficulty and suffering because of this).

 While workers who test positive on arrival in Hong Kong cannot be terminated while they’re sick, there would be no stopping employers from giving them a month’s notice after being treated and discharged from hospitals, she added.

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On a more positive note, Saret said the Consulate has succeeded in getting an approval from the DFA for an additional 150 seats on a Philippine Airlines flight tomorrow to be cleared for landing at Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

Under the Philippines’ recently imposed flight restrictions due to the worsening Covid-19 situation in the country, no more than 1,500 travelers from abroad are allowed to enter the country each day.

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Saret said PAL is limited to flying in only 100 people from Hong Kong each day, but the Consulate had asked that its quota be extended to 250 for tomorrow’s flight, to allow about 150 OFWs who need to go home to be accommodated on board.

According to an update he sent at about 9pm today, only 131 OFWs had taken up the offer to join the flight, which means 19 slots were left open after the 3pm cut-off.

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A few had reportedly gone to the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration to get themselves booked for the flight after hearing his announcement during the show, but some had backed out.

Combined with the 100 booked by PAL directly, there should be 231 Filipinos on the flight that is scheduled to leave at 11:25am tomorrow.

This is the second group departure arranged by the Consulate for OFWs since the flight ban took effect on Tuesday. The first batch of about 100 left Hong Kong on board PAL on the same day, while coming in, the plane only had cargo on board. 

Saret stressed that the ban only applies to passengers coming from the Philippines, but not those flying there from Hong Kong. Cargoes are also exempted. Thus, all airlines  that come in with cargo from Manila are allowed to fly back there with passengers.

He said the Consulate clarified this with the Hong Kong government directly upon learning about the flight suspension.

Antonio says Mission & Bethune need PCG's help in extending assistance to needy OFWs

Antonio appealed to Saret to help the Mission and Bethune respond to the needs of about 50 OFWs who are either waiting for their new employment visas to be released, or have been denied by Immigration of the chance to remain in Hong Kong.

“Siguradong marami na naman ang hihingi ng tulong sa amin dahil dito sa flight ban, kaya kakailanganin namin na lumapit sa Konsulado dahil hindi naming kakayanin mag-isa bilang isang maliit na organisasyon lang kami sa Hong Kong,” she said.

(We are pretty sure that a lot of people would come to us for help again because of the flight ban, so we would need the assistance of the Consulate since we won’t be able to respond to all of them since we are just a small Hong Kong organization).

Saret assured her that all their referrals would be attended do, including those who want the Consulate to give them an endorsement letter to Immigration so they could be allowed to process a new work contract here despite being terminated.

He also said that he has since added to the referral letter the uncertainty of being able to fly to Hong Kong from the Philippines because of the flight ban, in hopes that Immigration would give more consideration to each new employment visa application.

When it was the Philippines that imposed a flight ban on Hong Kong, Saret said the Consulate was immediately asked for help by the SAR government, saying employers needed their helpers to be able to return or take up their jobs here.

This time around, he said Hong Kong might be convinced to return the favor.

But in the meantime, he appealed to all Filipinos to refrain from traveling at this time, unless absolutely necessary.

“Kung hindi essential ang travel, hassle ang pauwi, hassle din ang pabalik,” he said. “Pero yung kailangang makauwi pero nahihirapan po, inaanyayahan naming kayo na pumunta sa akin para mabigyan namin kayo ng advice.”

(If travel is not essential, both going home and coming back would be hassle. But for those who need to go home and are having difficulties, I would like to invite you to come to us so we could give you proper advice).

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30 preliminary cases caused by lab contamination, expert says

By Vir B. Lumicao 

Yuen (center) says lab technicians mixed up 2 positive samples with 28 negative ones

Contamination of samples in a laboratory that is testing people’s specimen for the coronavirus was discovered to be responsible for the unusually large number of 30 preliminary positive cases reported today.

The contamination was reported by University of Hong Kong microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung, an adviser to the administration, who was asked by the government to inspect the laboratory.

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This evening, Yuen reported that two positive samples were believed to have contaminated the other 28 undiagnosed samples in the laboratory.

Early on, Dr Albert Au from the Centre for Health Protection said in a press briefing that there were 30 preliminary positive cases, all tested by BGI. Nine of the patients were in quarantine at Ramada Hong Kong Grand and 21 others tested at local community testing centers.  

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Au said all 30 patients had been admitted to hospitals for isolation, but nine subsequently tested negative. He said it was unusual that a big number of cases tested positive in one laboratory with a high viral load and no epidemiological links.

“I have to say that this is a bit unusual. Because there were 30 cases from the same lab on the same day, so this is a bit strange,” he said.

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“There are two possibilities. The first is that some of these cases are true positive cases, and there is silent transmission or even outbreak in the community which had not been detected before,” he said.

Today, 14 new coronavirus cases were confirmed in Hong Kong, including two local cases with unknown sources and eight passengers from India, three of whom tested positive for the mutated virus.

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The seven men and seven women with ages from 14 to 56 took the total tally of infected cases in Hong Kong to 11,719.

Eight of the new cases were passengers from India, seven of whom arrived on Air India Flight 1314 on Apr 9 and tested positive on their 12^th day of quarantine in various hotels.

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A man from Turkey who arrived on Apr 12 tested positive of the N501Y variant, which health officials said is 70 times more infectious than the original Covid-19 virus.

The other imported cases were two men from Kathmandu who arrived on Apr 20 via Nepal Airlines flight RA490, and a woman from Pakistan who flew in on Apr 9 and tested positive on the 12^th day of her hotel quarantine.

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Au said that altogether, there are 235 cases with the N501Y variant, 95 of whom carried the UK strain, 32 South African strain and dozens with the P253 strain. The remaining 20 cannot be classified because of their low virus load.

One of the local cases today involves a 19-year-old man who lives in San Bik House, San Wai Court in Tuen Mun and works at Wang Kee & Co at Kwai Chung Container Terminal.

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The man had only two to three close contacts with whom he shared the rest lounge during meals, as his main task in the firm was to input container data into the computer, Au said.

He said the man visited restaurants in Tuen Mun Plaza, a ramen soup shop and went to On Ting Market. On Apr 20, he went to Tsun King  Leung King Plaza and other eateries in Tuen Mun and Kwai Chung.

The infected teacher holds 2 classes at this kindergarten 

The second local case is a woman aged 31 who lives in Block 4 of Metro City Phase 1 in Tseung Kwan O. She taught students in two classes at Greenfield English International Kindergarten in Lohas Park on Apr 20 before she developed fever and cough.

Au said during the incubation period, the woman visited a friend at Hang Hau Village. She also went to a fitness center and a parlor for facial care in Hang Hau then went to a wedding expo in Wan Chai. She also attended a yoga class in Kwun Tong.

Undersecretary for Food and Health Dr. Chui Tak-yi, who joined the briefing, said meanwhile that the first batch of 291 Hong Kong residents who were stranded in Britain arrived on a chartered flight at dawn today.

They all tested negative for Covid-19 and were sent to Rambler Garden Hotel in Tsing Yi for compulsory virus testing and quarantine for 21 days.

Reviewing data in the past two weeks, Chui reported 165 Covid-19 cases comprising 128 imported and 37 local cases. There were 15 cases with unknown sources, he said.

Meanwhile, Dr. Linda Yu from the Hospital Authority 149 confirmed patients are being treated in 17 public hospitals and at North Lantau Hospital infection control centre.Three patients are in critical condition, three are serious and the remaining 143 patients stable.

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Filipina fined $2k, gets suspended jail term for selling mercury-laden whitener

By Vir B. Lumicao 

BioClear was found to contain mercury that's up to 18,000 times over the safety level

A Filipina business owner was fined $2,000 and sentenced to a suspended two-month jail term after admitting she supplied a skin whitener with high mercury levels and failed to attach a warning label on the product.

On top of this, Jane G. Erellana was ordered to pay the Hong Kong government $34,477.11 for the cost of laboratory tests on 137 tubes of BioClear that customs and police officers seized from her shop in World-Wide Plaza in Central.

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Erellana, 39, appeared before Eastern Magistrate Peter Law for the first time since her arrest on Jul 14 last year when her shop was raided by the authorities.

She faced one count each of “supplying unsafe consumer goods” and “supplying consumer goods which failed to comply with bilingual warning or caution requirement.” Erellana pleaded guilty to both charges.

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Her arrest came on the same day that the Centre for Health Protection issued a warning against the use of BioClear, after laboratory tests reportedly showed that the product contained mercury that was 16,471 times the acceptable level.

According to CHP, the Health Department had the product tested after a 37-year-old woman who had used it for around four months developed swelling of both lower limbs and sought help.

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Her urine sample showed an elevated mercury level, which was suspected to be related to her use of the product.

"Chronic exposure to mercury can cause damage to the nervous system and kidneys. Symptoms may include tremors, irritability, insomnia, memory deterioration, concentration difficulty, impaired hearing and vision, and change in the taste function. In severe cases, renal failure may occur," the CHP’s statement said.

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In mitigation, Erellana’s lawyer said the defendant had admitted the charges at the first instance and was very sorry for the harm done.

Magistrate Law said the Filipina will not serve her two-month jail sentence unless she commits another offence within a year. But she needed to pay the fine and the cost of testing her products.

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The sentencing was delayed for about an hour as the Filipina’s lawyer opposed the move to charge her the testing cost. They eventually relented but haggled with the court to pay with a 30-day check.

The items seized from the defendant's shop in World-Wide Plaza

According to the prosecution, police raided the defendant’s shop in July 2020 after receiving information from the DH about the mercury poisoning case.

Customs officers reportedly checked several shops in various districts but found no other one that sold Bio Clear, apart from the shop in World-Wide Plaza.

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On the day of the raid, an undercover customs officer pretended to be a customer and bought a tube of the cream for around $400, the prosecution said. After paying for the product, the officer identified herself then called in other officers.

They arrested Erellana and seized 137 boxes of Bio Clear, which they sent for laboratory testing. The test result on the seized products was released on Aug 17, 2020, and showed the same result as the one previously done by the HA.

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The CHP has advised anyone using the product to stop immediately and consult health  professionals as soon as possible if they feel unwell or are in doubt.

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Filipina DH with variant is only Covid-19 case

By Daisy CL Mandap 

The lone case tested positive on her 12th day in quarantine at Silka Yau Ma Tei

A Filipina domestic helper who arrived on Apr 8 and tested positive on her second sample while under hotel quarantine is the only Covid-19 case reported today.

No local case was reported, the first since Apr 4.

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The 31-year-old Filipina, who was asymptomatic, was on the 12^th day of her stay at Silka Seaview Hotel in Yau Ma Tei when she tested positive for coronavirus.  She had flown in via Cebu Pacific flight 5J272.

A staff at the Centre for Health Protection said the patient was also found to carry the N501Y variant, which is said to be 70 times more infectious than the regular virus strain.

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The number of imported cases has dropped significantly since Hong Kong tightened entry restrictions for those arriving from abroad on Apr 15, including banning flights when a certain number of passengers test positive on arrival in Hong Kong.

A two-week suspension on all flights from the Philippines, India and Pakistan which took effect yesterday is likely to reduce the number of imported cases even more.

Two experts dispute claim that food hooks caused the virus to spread

Meanwhile, an infectious disease expert has cast doubt on CHP’s statement yesterday that food hooks must have spread the South African variant among three guests who had quarantined on the same floor of Ramada Grand Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui in the second half of March and early April.

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Prof. David Hui of the City University of Hong Kong, who is also a government health consultant, said on a radio talk show this morning that the S-shaped hooks used to hang food rations of quarantined guests had tested negative for the coronavirus.

Hui said the hooks could just be one of the sources of infection, but it could also be environmental contamination, or a long incubation period.

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Another health expert, Leung Chi-chiu, totally dismissed the notion that the hooks had caused cross contamination among the three hotel guests.

He said airborne transmission was the likely source, given that most hotels have narrow corridors through which contaminated air could circulate quite easily.

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At yesterday’s press briefing, CHP’s infectious disease expert Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan said experts who checked the hotel did not find anything wrong with its ventilation and air conditioning system, or its sewage pipes.

That made the experts conclude that the food hooks must have caused the virus to spread as they were the only objects shared among guests, Chuang said.

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The three patients from the hotel included a 29-year-old Indian man who was classified as the first local case to have the variant.

He flew in from Dubai on Mar 18 and tested negative for all Covid-19 tests while in quarantine. He was found infected only after he got himself tested before his intended departure from Hong Kong.

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The two other cases who had stayed on the same floor as the man in Ramada TST were both detected earlier. Both were FDHs, one Filipina and one Indonesian.

Another Indonesian DH who had spent her 21-day quarantine in the same hotel, but on a different floor, was among the local cases listed yesterday. She had moved in with her employer in Yau Tong on Apr 10 and was detected only after submitting herself to compulsory testing.

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