Hong Kong Only Records Three New Cases

Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan briefs the media on the latest cases this afternoon

Hong Kong is doing well, but not out the woods yet, health experts warn as the city only reported three new coronavirus cases today.

There are now a total of 1,012 cases. Two are two students who came back from Britain and completed two weeks of home quarantine, but then fell ill with the virus.

One positive case is believed to be opera singer Warren Mok

The third case is believed to be well-known Hong Kong opera singer Warren Mok, 61, who had been to New York and Germany before flying to Thailand where he fell ill and checked into a hospital there. He was given a health certificate clearing him to travel and came back to Hong Kong with no symptoms, but his deep throat saliva test was positive.

Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the communicable disease branch of the Centre for Health Protection says they are contacting Thai health authorities to find out more about Mok's case and to decide if he should be counted as a confirmed case there or in Hong Kong.

In the meantime while she says the single-digit number of cases is "good", the public should still remain vigilant and maintain good hygiene and maintain social distancing.

A reporter asked when Hong Kong would be out of the clear, but Chuang would not give a definitive date, warning there could possibly be less testing during the Easter long weekend and more cases could pop up later. There was also the factor of how other countries were dealing with the pandemic that would affect Hong Kong as well.

It is advised to continue social distancing for now

Meanwhile two people from my office are still in hospital receiving treatment for the virus, one almost a month ago, the other for almost three weeks which is worrying. I don't know if they have underlying health conditions, but they are tested everyday for nose and throat swabs and both need to be negative; one tells me her throat tests keep coming back positive which must be very frustrating.

Tomorrow my colleague who used to hold yoga classes at lunchtime in the office once a week will be teaching virtually from his flat via Google Hangout! Should be a fun experience, and finally after several months we can do some decent stretching and work out some kinks in our bodies from sitting so long in front of our computers everyday.

Dresden: Semperoper, the Famed Opera House

Approaching Semperoper, the opera house designed by Gottfried Semper

Dresden is a two-hour train ride from Berlin and even though it's south of Berlin it's colder here at 6 degrees (Berlin was 11 degrees)!

We even had rain greet us at the train station which was worrying. But in the late afternoon the rains cleared to blue skies (though very chilly).

The historic centre is very photogenic -- everywhere you look there are beautiful old buildings, many of them restored after World War II. However they also seem to need a good cleaning too, as the roofs of the buildings with beautiful decoration from stone carvings and bronze domes are black as soot. But it's understandable there are many other things on the priority list to fix than clean some buildings.

Inside the decor is completely faux to create an illusion

Some landmark buildings or areas are being refurbished, and so while the place is photogenic, there are construction gates everywhere that make some angles unsightly. Guess you can't have everything.

Nevertheless, today we got to tour the Semperoper, the opera house -- actually the second one, that was named after the architect, Gottfried Semper who was a professor of architecture in Dresden.

He designed the first opera house that was built in 1841, which had a round facade and was said to have the best acoustics and the most beautiful opera house in Europe.

However, much like the recent Notre Dame fire, some renovations of the opera house led to a fire that razed it to the ground in 1869 and the residents clamoured to have Semper redesign another opera house on the same site.

An "ad" for Shakespeare's Hamlet above one doorway

While he did draw up the plans, it was his son Manfred, also an architect, who built the second opera house, described to be Neo-Renaissance in style.

During our tour we were told the first opera house was only for aristocrats -- no ordinary folk were allowed in.

But by the time the second one was being built, the industrial revolution was well underway and created a wealthy middle class who were keen on higher pursuits, like the opera.

Apparently the aristocrats were mortified of the thought of having to share the opera house with the riff raff and pleaded with Semper to do something. His solution? Have the nouveau riche crammed up on the top floor -- but standing room only -- for three hours, while the aristocrats sat in boxes with partitions complete with snacks and drinks.

The bust of composer Richard Strauss

Also during that time it's interesting to note that these aristocrats had not traveled to Italy before and so the opera house was their first impression of quasi Italian opulence. The upstairs foyer -- only for the aristocrats -- appear luxurious but in fact are completely faux.

The marble columns and marble-like walls were carefully painted to give the impression of using rich building materials. Apparently to create the green marble columns, it took 200 to 250 hours of work just to complete one.

The opera house also inspired a nationalistic drive to write operas in their own German language, thus Richard Strauss was one of the composers whose operas premiered here.

Our guide also explained how the opera house had one of the first "advertisements" in the foyer. They were kind of like today's movie posters of the 19th century. For example there's a scene of Hamlet with the name of the play and the name "Shakespeare" below just to give the audience a hint of what's to come.

A look at the seating complete with the royal box

When we finally got the opportunity to go into the seating area, we were impressed by the lavishness of the decor, especially the royal boxes and the several floors of boxes around the massive room. We were also told interesting trivia that the stage and backstage was 3.5 times the audience seating area.

The stage is such that it can move 360 degrees, and it can fold up vertically. It can also be divided into rows and squares that move independently of each other.

When we were there, the steel fire door on stage prevented us from seeing the setting for Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss, though while we sat there, the fire door was lifted up to reveal a beautiful setting of a sitting room area and technicians were testing out the lights.

The stage is set for Der Rosenkavalier by Strauss

Our guide also talked about intermission intervals and how 20 minutes is so stressful because you are either in line for the bathroom or for drinks and by the time you have your champagne in hand, it's time to go back to your seat. He said back in Semper's time intermission was 50 minutes long, and added the Met is currently experimenting with 45-minute intermissions. Maybe this will be the new standard for arts performances the world over?