Covid Deaths Overwhelm System

This shocking photo of body bags was released on social media

This horrific photograph went viral on Twitter today. It was taken about a week ago at the Accident and Emergency Ward at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Jordan, where there are six dead bodies in body bags lying in wards where there are three elderly patients.

The image was confirmed by a medic who works in the hospital. Since that picture was taken, the situation has been alleviated with more refrigerator units and mortuaries made available.

When the media asked about the photo this afternoon, the Health Authority's Sara Ho Yuen-ha confirmed it and apologised for the stress it had caused patients.

Ho apologised for the distress to the patients

"The authority is facing an unprecedented challenge... we are very sorry about bringing distress to patients. Our colleagues are also very unhappy about the situation. We hope everyone understands," she said.

Nevertheless it clearly illustrates how overwhelmed the Hong Kong healthcare system is and there is no end in sight with over 15000 people dying from Covid-19 per day, the majority of them elderly.

Another bottleneck has emerged in processing all the paperwork for each deceased person, while funeral homes are booked up until at least mid-April.

Kwok Hoi-bong, chairman of the Funeral Business Association industry group, said the government had to do more to resolve bottlenecks.

"Even though the government has increased the capacity of cremation incinerators to between 260 to 280 corpses a day, it has not given thought to other areas," he told a radio program.

He pointed out there are only 121 funeral halls in the city, but the average death toll was 200 dead per day.

Kwok says deaths are taking longer to process

Kwok said the authority should allow simple ceremonies to be performed in service halls in the hospital to allow families to bid their final farewells before taking the corpses to the crematorium or cemetery. 

While this will alleviate the logistics, there are families who insist in a proper send-off to loved ones. 

He also said death certificates used to take three to four days to be processed and now took six to eight, meaning corpses not being removed in a more timely manner.

Today Hong Kong recorded 29,377 local cases, 18,884 from PCR tests, 10,493 from RAT. There were 294 deaths logged, 196 from the past 24 hours, 98 backlogged. The age rage was 35-105, of the 196 dead, 114 were unvaccinated, 97 from residential care homes.

Currently only 54 percent of Hong Kong residents 80 years and older have had at least one jab. The government has pledged to focus on inoculating elderly people with mobility issues who live on their own. This alarm was sounded months ago by health experts, but the advice was not heeded... 

Simple Goodbyes During Covid

Lovely portrait of Robin at the funeral

Today I said goodbye to a friend who died a few weeks ago from cancer. Robin Piers Lynam was 63.

I didn't know him that well, but more on a professional basis, and he was such a gentleman in an English sort of way. He was so knowledgeable on so many different subjects, from food to wine, music both classical and jazz, and was a musician too who played the guitar.

He was a Renaissance man who refused to get a mobile phone until he was diagnosed with cancer over two years ago and had to keep in touch with the medical clinics for his treatments.

Robin passed away at age 63 of cancer

The last time I saw him was about half a year ago at a lunch in Somm at the Landmark Mandarin Oriental, and I was so genuinely happy to see him as I knew he was battling cancer at the time and glad to see he looked well and had a decent appetite.

We said our goodbyes at the MTR station after, and I expressed hope to see him again soon.

That did not happen until today.

Due to Covid restrictions, 40 people were invited to come to the crematorium at Cape Collinson above Chai Wan, but only about 15 people showed up. We had a socially-distanced shuttle ride from Central that took less than 20 minutes.

When we arrived, his partner tearfully hugged everyone, and although she barely knew me she held me tightly.

Before entering the bare bones funeral hall, we scanned our Leave Home Safe app, where there were no flowers, just a plain room with seats on both sides, and on the left a rolling conveyor belt with a curtain to the crematorium.

Someone placed a portrait of Robin on the table and then the mini service began with his partner thanking us for coming, how they had 25 years together and was so grateful for every moment they were with each other.

She then invited each of us to say our goodbyes, which most people did briefly, including myself. His partner then said a few more words and played a lovely song in which she cried loudly throughout.

Cape Collinson is a no-frills crematorium

Periodically someone behind the curtain dressed in full protective equipment including goggles peered through to see if we were done yet.

When the folksy song ended, she pressed a green button and the coffin moved forward behind the curtain. Robin's partner will take his ashes back to the UK, as he and his older brother have predeceased his mother.

And that was it. We checked out of our Leave Home Safe apps and it was 16 minutes.

That's what a no-frills funeral is like these days.

Robin would probably be surprised to see how sparse the room looked, but maybe would think it was practical not to have flowers and having people fuss over him.

It was just so sad to see hardly any ceremony and not being allowed to have anything too elaborate. With so many deaths these days from Covid, the funeral parlours and crematoriums are very busy, though we did not see the next party come in.

I really enjoyed working with Robin -- he was so helpful whenever I had to publish say a supplement on wine or a wine magazine. He would ask me which wineries to include and then in a few weeks came out with practically flawless stories featuring the vineyards I had asked him to write about.

He was really a lifesaver.

Lam finally wearing a mask to address the public

Will miss his acerbic wit, knowledge on so many subjects and overall just a gentle soul to be around.

Hope you are resting peacefully on the other side.

On the Covid-19 front, today Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor made her first public appearance since February 22 to now give daily updates on the pandemic situation in Hong Kong. And for the first time she appeared speaking with a mask on!

So much for wanting to show people how she really feels, when as the leader of Hong Kong she should set an example and wear a mask indoors, as stipulated by pandemic regulations.

Today the city logged 58,750 cases (25,991 from PCR tests, 32,766 from RAT tests). The latter are considered confirmed after all the relevant information is inputted into the website and the government issues the applicant an isolation order. Many were backlogged cases from since February 26 to now.

The number of deaths was 195, of which 145 were not vaccinated, with ages ranging from 41 to 105. The youngest person was a domestic helper who had fainted and was found by her employer. At the hospital the helper was found to be infected after a RAT test, but it is not clear if the helper died of Covid as she was found to have a brain hemorrhage. Another female aged 45 had cancer. 

The alarming message

Infectious disease expert Dr Gabriel Leung has said on Twitter that according to the University of Hong Kong modelling, the fifth wave should have peaked on March 4 with over 1.8 million people infected.

When asked to comment on this, Dr Albert Au Ka-wing of the Centre for Health Protection said it was still a bit too early to know if the fifth wave had peaked yet, and would probably find out in another week or so as case numbers are still high.

In the meantime around dinner time everyone in Hong Kong received a fright on their phones with alarms going off because the government decided to send a very important text message letting everyone know that Queen Elizabeth Hospital is now only for Covid patients.

It was already announced yesterday.

Did they really need to do that? Everyone immediately complained on Twitter.

For some reason my phone went off an hour later... since then people have all changed our settings to not receive such alarms anymore...

Chinese New Year Cultural Appropriation

Don't decorate a CNY dish with funeral paper

Late last night, a former colleague now based in London had a freak out on Twitter when she saw the UK newspaper The Guardian post recipes for the upcoming Lunar New Year, but the accompanying pictures demonstrated no Chinese person was consulted to see if the decorations were culturally appropriate.

One picture shows a plate of pork and crab potstickers -- they should really be boiled dumplings -- on a piece of batik fabric -- not really Chinese -- but worst of all decorated with joss paper that are usually burned to pay respects to ancestors when grave sweeping.

Funeral envelopes mixed with lai see packets...

In addition, the chopsticks look like joss sticks, another not really good thing to do, and what's with the ancient Chinese coins?

Meanwhile BBC Food also posted recipes by School of Wok founder Jeremy Pang. One of them is lo mein with scallops and tenderstem broccoli. While it's fine to have the lai see envelope as a decoration, next to it is another envelope -- given out by the grieving family to funeral attendees, which usually includes a coin, tissue and a piece of candy.

May we also point out the turquoise chopsticks are really ugly?

These ignorant gaffes sparked or rather led to an explosion of complaints from Chinese people about how everyone else is so ignorant of Chinese culture, sometimes even stabbing a dish of noodles with chopsticks that again look like joss sticks.

One person remarked: "I'm absolutely horrified by this. This is like putting up a Christmas tree at a funeral."

Stabbing dish like joss sticks

Others also remarked how whenever Thai or Filipino food is styled, chopsticks are always placed next to the dish, when they typically eat with a fork and spoon.

For me at least, this incident just shows how there is a lack of diversity in these two news organisations, and no one bothered to check to see if these pictures were culturally correct.

The people who created the recipes were Taiwanese and a second-generation British-Chinese. Or if they weren't available, how about some professors in Chinese sociology or culture?

The Guardian has since apologised for the mistake, and BBC Food is looking into its gaffe.

Wonder how the Year of the Tiger will turn out for them...

Vaccinations with Some Benefits

Perhaps more people will get the jab with shorter quarantines?

Many things happened today. Here is a quick summary:

Former Democratic Party chairman Wu Chi-wai was granted urgent bail on Friday morning to attend his father's funeral, but was a no-show tonight at the memorial service at the funeral hall in Diamond Hill.

It is believed he will be attending the funeral ceremony tomorrow at an undisclosed location and time.

Wu smiled when his bail application was approved.

An entire block in Quarry Bay was quarantined

"Thank you, everyone", he said, to shouts of encouragement from supporters as he was escorted out of the dock by officers. 

On the Covid-19 front, the government has finally realized it needs to create incentives for people to get vaccinated. It has relented to allow those who are fully vaccinated (plus 14 days) and are close contacts of someone infected with a mutated virus can now just do two weeks in the camp, and another seven days at home.

If someone is fully vaccinated and is a close contact of someone infected with a non-mutant strain will stay in the camp for only seven days instead of 14 days.

It's a bit of an improvement.

There are three residential buildings in Quarry Bay, Pokfulam and Tsuen Wan currently under mandatory quarantine because each one was found to have someone with a mutant virus. Originally every single resident in those affected buildings had to be sent to quarantine, but after a massive uproar that included two online petitions to Secretary of Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee, the government backtracked.

In Tsuen Wan people were escorted to quarantine

Now only close contacts to the infected person must undergo quarantine, as long as the others not deemed close contacts have tested negative four times during a self-monitoring period.

Meanwhile for those coming into Hong Kong and have been double vaccinated, there is a bit of hope in terms of shorter hotel quarantines -- but it depends on where they are coming from.

People with two does of vaccines coming in from low-risk countries, such as Australia, New Zealand and Singapore will just have to quarantine in a hotel for 14 days instead of 21, but they must have Covid-19 tests on two separate days afterwards.

For medium-risk countries, such as Canada, Belgium, Egypt, Germany, Romania, Russia, Switzerland and the United States, fully vaccinated people can have a 14-day stay in hotel quarantine, otherwise it's the full 21 days.

However for extremely high-risk places like Brazil, India, Nepal, the Philippines and South Africa, the 21-day hotel quarantine is a must for them. 

Currently almost 14 percent of Hong Kong's population has had at least one jab, but only over 8 percent are fully vaccinated. 

Some coming to HK can shorten quarantine stays

Will this latest news help boost the city's vaccination drive? We hope so. Who wants to be stuck in a government quarantine camp with crappy food, spotty wifi and uncomfortable beds for 21 days, let alone 14 days?

I managed to persuade a relative to get his jab which he did over a week ago, and he in turn persuaded some colleagues to do the same.

However, after news broke about the mutated virus in Hong Kong, the Health Commission of Guangdong Province ruled yesterday with immediate effect that Hong Kong residents must spend 14 days in hotel quarantine, and another seven days confined in their homes or other forms of accommodation.

In effect, it's 21 days in quarantine.

This latest development has dashed hopes that the border between Hong Kong and Guangdong will be lifted anytime soon.

"It is unimaginable when the border will be restored," said Danny Lau Tat-pong, honorary chairman of the Hong Kong Small and Medium Enterprises, 1,700-member chamber.

"Business owners and operators including myself have waited for more than a year and are still waiting."

HK travelers to Shenzhen now 21-day quarantine

Lau said cross-border businesses have been significantly disrupted, forcing Hong Kong operators to either be stuck in the mainland and not be reunited with their families, or they are forced to manage their factories remotely, and business meetings with clients can only be contacted online.

He has not been able to visit his factory in Dalang, which produces aluminum curtain walls, since January last year.

Chinese Manufacturers' Association honorary president Dennis Ng Wang-pun urged mainland authorities to relax the 21-day quarantine requirement for Hongkongers who have been inoculated.

"Businesses cannot operate remotely forever, we still have to meet clients and visit factories in person," he said.

"The border reopening will be crucial to Hong Kong's economic recovery, and will directly throw a lifeline to tourism, retail and food and beverage sectors."

Given that China's own vaccination rates are low, surely it should give Hongkongers -- aren't they Chinese too? -- a break.

Perhaps this is something Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor should be lobbying the Guangdong authorities? Or is she too busy telling people to go to Hainan Island instead?

Repression of Defendants Continues

The Democratic Party's Wu Chi-wai during the 2019 protests

When it comes to breaching the national security law, or perhaps any law in Hong Kong these days, there is no mercy.

Former Democratic Party chairman Wu Chi-wai has been remanded in custody since January pending trials but has yet to be convicted of any offenses. He is facing one count of conspiracy to subvert state power under the security law for his role in an unofficial primary election last July.

Wu is also facing criminal charges in two other cases, one of which is for unauthorized assembly on July 1, 2019, when there were mass protests against the now-abandoned extradition bill; it was the day that protesters stormed the Legislative Council.

Wu is not allowed to attend his father's funeral

He was originally granted bail, but was brought back to court in connection with that case after police discovered he had breached his bail conditions by failing to hand over his British National (Overseas) passport. His bail was revoked at West Kowloon Court.

And then late last month his 92-year-old father passed away while Wu was in jail, and the Correction Services Department is refusing to allow him to attend the funeral on Friday evening; the venue and time have been made public and there have been calls online to show up in support of the 58-year-old Wu. 

The department is concerned he could be a flight risk, or if lots of people show up it could affect security at the event, and that it had a duty to protect its staff and Wu.

While the Correctional Services Department has offered to let Wu watch the ceremony via a live video link, he has refused the arrangement, and so has his family.

Many are calling the prison authorities "inhumane" in their treatment of Wu.

Lawyers for Wu have filed an urgent bail application in a last ditch attempt to get him to attend his father's funeral.

People showed up last June 4 in illegal assembly

They had hoped the application would be heard on Thursday afternoon by Court of First Instance judge Esther Toh Lye-ping, but it was scheduled for Friday morning after the Department of Justice demanded more time to prepare for the case.

The application to be heard on Friday is likely to involve arguments on whether an accused person under the national security law can be granted bail under such a rare circumstance.

Meanwhile four activists were sentenced to between four and 10 months in jail today.

Officially it is for an illegal assembly, but in reality it is for lighting up candles in Victoria Park to remember the victims of the June 4 Tiananmen Square massacre.

Joshua Wong Chi-fung got 10 months, Lester Shum six months, and Tiffany Yuen Ka-wai, and Jannelle Rosalynne Leung each four months.

While they all pleaded guilty, District Court judge Stanley Chan said there was a potential for violence that night.

Wong (centre) handed a 10-month sentence

"With the 2019 unrest still lingering, the gathering of some 20,000 participants on a special night like June 4 meant emotions could run high, and unruly elements could take advantage of the situation and incite violence," Chan said.

Twenty-two other activists have also been charged over last year's vigil, including Nathan Law Kwun-chung and Sunny Cheung, both of whom have fled Hong Kong.

Wong will serve this sentence after he has finished serving his four-month sentence for taking part in an unauthorized assembly on October 5, 2019.

It seems the authorities are finding any way they can to charge and convict young people to keep them in jail... forever.

 

Wuhan Closer to the Truth?

Wuhan streets are slowly getting busier, people still wear masks

Since April 8 when the 76-day lockdown was lifted on Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, relatives in the city have been trying to get their loved ones' remains.

According to Radio Free Asia, the city's seven funeral homes each handed out 500 urns per day of suspected coronavirus victims, daily for 12 days from March 23 until April 5, Ching Ming, which makes the total around 42,000, more than 16 times the original death toll of 2,579.

Hundreds of Wuhanese lining up to collected ashes

But then today the Wuhan municipal government announced the new death toll was revised at 3,869, almost 50 percent more than before. It also said the number of confirmed cases was 50,333, not 50,008. In both numbers, the authorities claimed there were over 160 duplicates.

The government suggested the increased death toll was mainly because a number of people died at home in the early stages of the epidemic, as hospitals were overwhelmed by an influx of patients.

"In the early stages of the pandemic, hospitals did not have the ability to admit and treat all of the patients, a small number of hospitals did not link up with the disease prevention and control information system, many hospitals were overwhelmed trying to transfer patients and medical staff were too busy treating patients. All of these factors contributed to late reporting, failure to report and mistaken reporting," it said.

It added some organizations, ranging from the provincial government to private businesses did not report numbers in a timely way and some death registration information did not include enough details, leading to duplicated, mistaken and false reporting.

One family having a very quiet funeral for their loved one

While it is understandable that scores of people tried to get into hospitals, the fact is that many of them were possibly infected with the virus and were not officially counted either in the number of confirmed cases or the dead.

It is important to get the numbers as accurately as possible for not only China but the rest of the world to understand more about this deadly virus. But perhaps even more so for the relatives of those who died to know that their loved ones did not die in vain, that they were counted and remembered in this tragic chapter of modern China's history.

 

Hong Kong Forces More Social Distancing

Carrie Lam's slogan today behind her says: "Stay Home, Keep Safe"

Today there was a shocking record of 65 new cases for Hong Kong, most of them again are residents who have come back from overseas, and still more from Lan Kwai Fong.

So Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has to come up with tougher measures to ensure more social distancing, but they are still kind of murky.

At around 5.30pm there was a collective groan in media circles when there was an announcement she would be holding a press conference in an hour... on a Friday...

She and her cabinet introduced new measures to start Saturday

All week there had been an outcry from the bar and restaurant community about her proposal on Monday to ban the sale of alcohol in establishments that have a liquor license. There was even an online petition going around with almost 5,000 signatures from the food and beverage industry against this idea.

It also turns out Lam didn't even seek the advice members from the executive council or her team of infectious disease experts, as they all preferred to use other ways of limiting social gatherings.

So she followed their advice. Describing now as a "public emergency situation", Lam announced that restaurants and bars can only have a maximum of four people per table, and each table should be 1.5 metres apart, and that these places should only hold half their capacity starting from tomorrow for the next two weeks.

In addition all staff need to wear masks, guests' temperatures need to be taken and hand sanitizer should be available.

Insomnia was one of the bars with many infections

The 50 percent capacity will put some restaurants in a bind -- can they make enough money to pay rent, staff, food and utilities? Is it worth even opening?

Many will probably continue to focus on takeaway to reduce their losses somewhat. It's a tough call.

Lam also announced the following establishments will be closed for two weeks starting from 6pm tomorrow: cinemas, fitness centres, saunas, party rooms, gaming centres and places of amusement, such as pool halls. Does that extend to mahjong parlours? Those tables are less than one-metre long and people are sitting there playing for hours...

In any event, spot checks will be carried out by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, and violators in the catering industry will be subject to a maximum fine of HK$50,000 (US$6,450) and six months' in jail. People who flout the public gathering law will be fined HK$25,000 and six months in jail.

Restaurants will have to halve their capacity tomorrow

Hope that's enough of a deterrent to get people to do some serious social distancing.

Meanwhile Lam downplayed the U-turn on her idea of banning alcohol in bars and restaurants.

"The community so far agreed that a ban on liquor is not the right antidote in minimizing social interactions under a public emergency situation," she said. "We will instead enforce two laws to enhance social distancing."

Gatherings that do not fall under the four-person rule are: weddings, funerals, government functions, and workplace meetings. Banquet restrictions will be decided later, Lam said.

While she added the government would provide financial assistance to the catering industry, she was vague on specifics, and appealed to employers not to lay off staff in the near future.

Gatherings at weddings and funerals will be allowed

Does she even know the financial pressure in running a restaurant? Many cannot afford to keep staff when there's no business...

What's interesting to observe is that Lam will float an idea, or announce a measure, and when her panel of infectious disease experts don't think it's stringent enough, they will go to the media to express their opinions.

Then a day or two later Lam follows their advice.

Why doesn't she just listen to them in the first place? Why have an expert panel and not follow their advice? She is wasting precious time in containing the virus in Hong Kong...