Tests Yield Few Results So Far

Over 800,000 have signed up to take the free coronavirus virus test so far

Today it was reported in the universal testing scheme, of the 128,000 tested so far, only six were found to be positive, four of which were recovered patients who were discharged last month. So basically only two new cases were found.

That means the program so far has a success rate of 0.0046 percent.

Dr Yuen demonstrating how to take self-tests

According to Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre for Health Protection, the four cases had small traces of the pathogen, but did not pose a risk to others and did not need to be quarantined.

The other two were a 63-year-old man who lives in Kwai Tsing, and a 22-year-old woman in Tuen Mun. 

Despite the six cases, University of Hong Kong microbiologist Professor Yuen Kwok-yung warned finding asymptomatic carriers was crucial in this exercise.

"Just a handful of cases could undermine us," he said. "Let's say there are 20 cases in every 800,000 people. If you do the maths, given that Hong Kong has a population of 7 million, there are going to be some 100 cases."

If those 100 people went out and spread the coronavirus in restaurants and public transport, then Yuen says, the consequence could be "very serious".

Also he even gave a demonstration of how to do the nostril and throat swabs -- on himself much to the delight of his fans who have admired his work on the coronavirus pandemic.

THIS IS EPIC - Prof. Yuen Kwok-Yung showing how to take throat swab for #COVID19 testing by himself via @StandNewsHK pic.twitter.com/sXTVrGiYmn

— Galileo Cheng (@galileocheng) September 3, 2020

As of Thursday night, 884,000 people registered to do the free virus test, and 470,000 have completed the test.

At least one Chinese brokerage company forced its employees to participate in the universal testing. If they didn't, it would be noted in the employees' work performance.

Even Carrie Lam and Matthew Cheung (centre) took the test

The accusation was made by the Hong Kong Financial Industry Employees General Union. It criticized Founder Securities, saying the citywide tests are voluntary in nature and workers have the right to choose whether to take part "based on their actual needs and wishes".

The union asked Founder Securities to respond but it didn't.

Today eight new coronavirus cases were reported, one of which was imported.

Hong Kong's Social-Distancing Measures to Continue

Social-distancing will continue for another week with case numbers still high

Hong Kong recorded 44 new coronavirus cases today, 31 of which were locally transmitted, 20 of them related to other cases.

Before the regular briefing by the Centre for Health Protection and the Hospital Authority, there were erroneous news reports that the dine-in ban would be relaxed so that people could eat in restaurants until 9pm or 10pm starting from Wednesday.

Only two people can dine per table these days until 6pm

However, that information was soon quashed when the government announced social-distancing measures would continue for another week until August 25, which include only two people can eat per table with restaurants having 50 percent capacity, and they can only dine from 5am to 6pm. Meanwhile masks must be worn outside, including while exercising.

So that bright hope to have dinner in a restaurant was extinguished and besides it was too short a notice for eateries to even prepare to open within two days.

With regards to the existing clusters, there are now 65 cases at the Kwai Tsing container terminals, which health officials are racing to contain. But the virus has exposed the plight of the workers there, who seem to work long shifts. They share a common area for meals, showers and even beds for sleeping.

The Kwai Tsing container terminal has seen 65 cases so far

Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan of the CHP described it as the staff there living like a family, eating together, using the same showers and beds.

Why did the supervisors or even bosses of these container terminals not know these workers could not practice proper social distancing in this kind of an environment and that they needed more space? The workers themselves were possibly too worried about their jobs to complain, or they are so used to this that they didn't think it was a problem.

The CHP has apparently inspected the area, though it was not clear if it was properly disinfected.

Another interesting case is about a 33-year-old man who had contracted the virus in March in Hong Kong, got better by April, but then went to Spain earlier this month and came back testing positive for the virus.

They are testing him to see if the strain is the same as the one in Hong Kong or different. Either way it will be interesting to see how this case develops. But more importantly, why was he traveling?! Did he really need to go to Spain?!

Dr Chuang says container workers live together "like family"

Some people are traveling because they feel entitled or that they don't want to waste their precious holiday time in Hong Kong.

Meanwhile the rest of us are not even interested in going through all the trouble of traveling let alone the increased chance of being infected by the virus and are staying put.

It's just crazy to think there are people out there who don't think the virus will affect them, but in this case this man is infected again. Worth all that effort?

At Least 300 Hectares of Brownfield Sites in Hong Kong

A brownfield site that could be developed into land more utilized

A good number of the public are calling for the government to redevelop brownfield sites, but this suggestion seems to fall on deaf ears.

So a local NGO has compiled plots of underutilized land around Hong Kong and calculated there could be as much as 300 hectares available, which are spread out into 532 land parcels that could have a combined size of 14 Taikoo Shing Estates, or 1.7 times the Fanling Golf Course.

They are located in Kwai Tsing, Sha Tin, Tuen Mun and other areas of the New Territories.

Liber Research Community says 60 per cent of this land was used as car parks, while the rest were vacant. Their findings were based on a 2012 government study of unallocated land, and supplemented with information from mapping tools, satellite images, site visits and official papers.

Researchers said such areas were left out of a current public consultation on land supply because the government had failed to disclose such information.

NGO Liber Research Community has a new report out

"Instead of arguing about destructive land supply options such as reclamation and developing country parks, why doesn't the government first fully utilize their own resources and review their potential?" asked Yeung Ha-chi, a Liber researcher.

Yeung said these land parcels could be put to temporary use such as building interim homes for those waiting for public housing and other community facilities.

For example, about 300 hectares could provide 90,000 prefabricated modular housing units, 43 sports complexes and benefit 120,000 people who require elderly residential care services.

Of the 532 land parcels, 306 could be used for short-term leases or temporarily allocated for government use. Other spaces could be temporary car parks, open storage sites, bus depots and temporary offices.

Liber also called on the government to be more transparent in disclosing its data on its use of public land. 

Why have just parking spots on the ground? Hong Kong is such a vertical city and with land at a premium, it makes more sense in terms of time, efficiency and money to redevelop brownfield sites first.

And yet the government doesn't seem to care about these sites, nor that they are already located near transport links, making it easier in terms of people living there to get around for work and such.

Why the stubbornness in refusing to recognize these potential land sites for housing and other uses?

It's time to be prudent about our land use and this is proof we do have vacant and underutilized land.

Hong Kong Must Protect Children

A memorial for five-year-old Chan Sui-lam who suffered horrific child abuse

In recent days Hong Kong has been reeling from a shocking child abuse case that led to the death of a five-year-old girl.

Chan Sui-lam was allegedly thrown at the ceiling many times and poked in the chest with scissors at home. Her father, 26, is a transport worker, and stepmother, 27, a housewife, were both charged with murder last Monday.

But this was not the only incident -- four more cases of child abuse were reported in three days, and parents and foster parent were arrested.

The Social Welfare Department's Child Protection Registry has 2016 figures that show 107 of 892 incidents of child abuse against children under the age of 18 took place is the New Territories, followed by 102 in Kwun Tong, 85 in Tuen Mun and 77 in Kwai Tsing.

But social welfare workers believe this is only the tip of the iceberg. A study by the University of Hong Kong from 10 years ago estimated about 70,000 children were subjected to "severe violence", or corporal punishment by the parents each year and these cases were most always unreported.

Social workers say stress factors like financial hardship, estranged relationships, living in small quarters like sub-divided flats, and for new immigrants, the struggle to integrate in Hong Kong can lead to parents taking their frustrations out on their children.

Lee Yu-po, service manager at Against Child Abuse, said the districts with higher numbers of child abuse cases had more low-income families.

"Many live in cubicle apartments... they might not be able to rest properly and the tight living space could also result in more family conflicts."

Also, of the low-income families, some are immigrants, mostly from the mainland, who may be poorer and less educated.

"Some new immigrants tend to have a more traditional Chinese mindset, thinking that beating a child is part of their upbringing," says social worker Raymond Fung Hing-kau.

Other traits of abusers include drug addiction, mental health problems, teenage pregnancy and a history of being abused.

Guidance and counselling on issues such as home safety, managing emotions and taking are of children are being advocated, but there aren't enough resources for these services done by volunteers.

Child protection advocates also say the government isn't tough enough on abusers, and that other adults should be empowered to rescue children from these dangerous situations.

Then there is the problem of not enough social workers in schools to help identify cases -- they are underpaid and the turnover rate is high at 30 percent. Because of the heavy workload, the social workers end up prioritizing cases that seem more serious.

In addition teachers aren't equipped to deal with child abuse cases -- currently the guidebook is 300 pages long -- and advocates say there needs to be clearer guidelines.

And then strangely, because kindergarten education is not compulsory, there is no need for the bureau to follow up on cases where a child has been missing classes.

So it seems Hong Kong has many holes in the system that need patching up, but advocates say it's also just as important for neighbours, relatives and friends to step up if they see something wrong.

There has been talk for years of having a child advocate for the city and it's about time the government appoint someone to carefully look at this sad and horrific issue from top to bottom and put children's needs and safety first.