HK Govt Dithers as Cases Surge over 34K

People were out panic-buying in supermarkets today

There is never a dull moment in Hong Kong. The situation changes not only day by day but after a few hours, and it has resulted in people becoming more scared, depressed and helpless.

This morning people heard Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee on the radio, saying the government was not ruling out a lockdown in order to limit people's movements during universal testing in March.

Right away people rushed out to supermarkets and cleared out shelves, terrified they may not be allowed to leave their homes for days or weeks at a time.

Many shelves like these were empty

Some shoppers claimed they just wanted to be prepared with everyday items they normally buy, while one man claimed he had already done his panic shopping a few weeks ago but wanted to get "alcohol and ice cream in a crisis".

Interesting combo.

There were even rumours that supermarket chain ParkNShop would close all its outlets from March 7, and the company had to later issue a statement refuting the rumour, that business would operate as usual.

But that did not stop others from buying what they needed -- just in case.

Meanwhile a slew of wet markets have closed because of infections, from Kennedy Town to Sha Tin, Kwai Chung and Peng Chau.

Later Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor told RTHK that it would be good to have a lockdown so that citizens will "stop moving around" before the results came in, they were still studying this, including if they should halt all public transport and the stock market.

This totally contradicts what she said last Tuesday, that a citywide lockdown would not be needed. Scientifically it is ridiculous to allow people to still continue as normal while still being tested for the virus.

Lam now says a lockdown could be necessary

The flip-flopping is not helpful at all, and creating anxiety among people because not enough straight-forward information is being given.

Residents have not been told at all when the testing will actually begin, and at first it was suggested that people would be called according to their HKID card number, but now it seems it will be by family unit. There is no information about how the tests will be conducted, for how long, what happens if you are tested positive and what kind of medical treatment people should expect.

Everything is vague and officials are "still studying" different scenarios. Why are they dithering so much? When it came to the national security law, its implementation was swift and ruthless -- overnight. 

And now when it comes to a matter of life and death, the government is still deciding what to do?

Should we remind Lam and her colleagues that there were 34,466 cases today, only four of which were imported. One hundred and twenty-four people died, 87 of them in the past 24 hours, the others were backlogged.

Of the 87 who died, 67 were not vaccinated, 10 had taken one shot, the other 10 two shots. There is no further information on which vaccines they took, and 49 of the deaths were in elderly care homes.

Dr Albert Au Ka-wing, principal medical and health officer at the Centre for Health Protection gave some analysis of the first 442 fatalities in the fifth wave.

Au gave a breakdown of the 442 deaths so far

Four were between the ages of zero and nine;

Two were aged 10 to 19

19 were aged 20 to 59

35 were aged 60-69

80 were aged 70-79

292 were 80 and above.

The median age was 84.

A total of 359, or 81 percent were not vaccinated, while 44 had one shot, and 39 had two.

These numbers should be compelling enough to urge people to get vaccinated, but many still refuse to budge, mostly due to mistrust of the government. And given what the city has gone through since the anti-extradition protests in 2019 it is understandable the lack of trust in the authorities, but still, the numbers of deaths don't lie here.

Also shocking as mentioned yesterday is that dead bodies are not being transported to public mortuaries fast enough, and funeral homes are too scared to accept them, leaving families in a bind because they want to have a ceremony for their loved ones first. There are now options to have the bodies immediately sent to crematoriums, but not many are choosing this.

Isolation units being constructed in Tsing Yi

In Tsing Yi today isolation facilities are being built at a fast clip, though from pictures it seems there are bars on the windows, as if further punishing people for testing positive.

Can we also add that now there will be no notifications on people's Leave Home Safe apps because there are too many to record. So why even bother scanning the app now if it doesn't tell you that a shop or building you went to had someone who tested positive?

The disaster is unfolding very fast and furious, and yet the government is still deciding what to do... its lack of decisiveness has left us residents very worried and frustrated that we have to fend for ourselves. Staying health and getting vaccinated is the only protection we have.

Wage Subsidies for Coupons? What a Deal

Lam announced more money will be doled out to keep the economy going

This morning Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor announced there will be a third round of financial aid for businesses adversely affected by the coronavirus pandemic -- including supermarket chains like ParknShop and Wellcome.

So far Lam said HK$290 billion has been doled out and resulted in the economy boosting by 5 percentage points.

The second round of the wage subsidy scheme of HK$81 billion will be available August 31 and last from September to November.

But why are these two supermarket giants eligible for the wage subsidy scheme?

ParknShop says prices have gone up because of the pandemic

Jardine Matheson-owned Dairy Farm operates supermarkets like Wellcome and Marketplace, as well as convenience stores like 7-Eleven, Mannings and Ikea. Dairy Farm received HK$399 million in the first round of the wage subsidy scheme, while ParknShop and Watson's got HK$161 million, both owned by AS Watson, controlled by Li Ka-shing's CK Hutchison Holdings.

AS Watson has about 260 supermarkets, and Dairy Farm has over 200 in Hong Kong.

When Lam announced the two supermarket chains were eligible for the scheme, eyebrows went up, but she quickly added a caveat.

"During the past few months, supermarkets generally saw sales remain the same or did even a little bit better," she said. "I will demand two supermarket chains -- ParknShop and Wellcome -- offer discounts to the public and cash coupons to the underprivileged in return for receiving wage subsidies."

Wellcome can get subsidies in return for helping the poor

There is no way the supermarkets are only making the same or just a bit better -- with restaurants forced to shut at 6pm, the vast majority of Hongkongers are making dinner at home. And where do they buy it? In the supermarket!

Most people are spending more of their money on food these days, even if it's just buying milk, pasta and rice, and the numbers show it.

In June, supermarket sales rose 4.5 percent compared to last year, a 7.3 percent increase in May, 16.1 percent in March, and 11.1 percent in February and January combined. Surely these are decent steady increases when other sectors are "swatting flies"?

But perhaps most galling is the government demanding the supermarkets give out discounts in return for wage subsidies. How about not making these companies eligible for these subsidies since they are doing a brisk business every month? Why create more bureaucracy in adding this condition? Why not give that money to smaller companies that desperately need to stay afloat in the next few months?

Cheng questions subsidy to supermarkets

Even the pro-Beijing DAB or Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong wondered how effective it would be for supermarkets to hand out coupons to the disadvantaged. How would that be determined? How much would be given out?

"It's hard to say how much discount is a reasonable discount," said DAB lawmaker Vincent Cheng Wing-shun. "So, what we are suggesting is we put at least half of the resources to the public, not only giving discounts to fulfill this subsidy scheme."

Some careful shoppers noted prices of some goods had gone up. When queried by RTHK about this, ParknShop replied that the wholesale prices of many products, as well as transportation costs had gone up drastically because of the pandemic, but said it would do its best to contain costs and keep prices reasonable.

Labour and Welfare Secretary, Law Chi-kwong had to perform some political gymnastics this afternoon in justifying the supermarket chains in receiving subsidies.

"The employment support scheme is to help the employers to help the community, in particular employment," explained Law.

Law says some companies should give back to the community

"But there are definitely companies who obtained these subsidies, they are not seriously affected. So there is some need for them to... sort of, pay back to the community," he said.

So in return for subsidies that help conglomerates save money from paying part of their employee wages, they can just hand out a bunch of coupons to the underprivileged? What a deal!

Perhaps another hair-brained idea cooked up by Lam and no one in her cabinet dares to point out the inconsistencies and yet they have to defend the measures to the skeptical media and public.

Back to the drawing board?

Panic Buying Settles In

Carrie Lam was berated yesterday for not wearing her mask properly

Hongkongers are pretty much united now in their ire at the Hong Kong government for not ensuring enough supplies for masks and sanitizing products in the wake of the Wuhan coronavirus that's spreading around the world.

There are now over 6,100 confirmed cases, 6,000 of which are in China, where 132 people have died. Hong Kong has eight confirmed cases, and three new ones today that need additional testing. Two of the cases are a couple in their early 70s who apparently spent a couple of days in the Four Seasons Hong Kong!

This morning a long line at the a pharmacy in Kennedy Town

It's a massive step up from 17 years ago when the Chinese doctor who began the spreading of SARS here stayed at the Metropark Hotel Kowloon...

In any event, this morning on my way to work I saw a long line in front of the neighbourhood pharmacy, as people were waiting for it to open to buy masks. Wonder if they managed to get any. Some shops gouged customers, raising prices several times the regular price, or they still didn't have any new stock.

Not only were masks and hand sanitizers in high demand, but people also raided supermarkets for fear of being stuck at home and not having enough to eat. At Heng Fa Chuen,  the ParknShop there ran out of vegetables at 2pm, while the shelves of sacks of rice in Yuen Long were completely empty.

In the ParknShop in Kennedy Town, loaves of bread were gone, and strangely enough flu medicine was not to be found.

"I am not that worried," said Cheng, a businessman in his 50s, who was buying canned food in Heng Fa Chuen. "But I can understand why many are panicking and stocking up on food. Their actions show they have lost confident in the government. As the government is not helping us, we have to do what we can to feel assured."

Many supermarkets ran out of food, especially vegetables

Cheng hit the nail on the head.

People feel desperate when the Hong Kong government claimed it had enough stock for masks and yet they cannot find any, and unlike Macau where the authorities there demanded that shops selling masks can only sell them at a low price and allotted a certain number of boxes per person, no such system is in place in Hong Kong.

University of Hong Kong microbiologist Dr Ho Pak-leung has estimated the city would use about 300 million surgical masks per month during the outbreak of the coronavirus.

"For a person who needs to go outside... they will use up to three disposable masks," Ho said. "If 1 million belong to this category, that's 3 million masks per day, 90 million per month. He also said health care workers in public hospitals used as many as 300,000 masks daily at the peak of the 2003 SARS epidemic.

At just before 8pm, Central MTR station was eerily quiet

So far the coronavirus doesn't seem as deadly as SARS, but seems more contagious than SARS, as people don't have any symptoms when they are infected with the coronavirus. 

Nevertheless, Lam and her administration must be accountable to the people in fulfilling her promise that there are enough masks for the city... or did she just mean for herself?

Hungry Cows Raid Supermarket

Three bulls wandered into a supermarket and started munching on fruit

Many Hong Kong people are terrified when they come across animals -- even domesticated dogs -- because they haven't been exposed to them much. They really don't know what to do and are paralyzed with fear.

So if they go to the outlying islands, particularly Mui Wo, they will be shocked to see feral cows wandering through the village, or walking along the beach.

After having their fill, the bulls left the supermarket

The best precaution is to mind your own business and let them go on their way.

But what do you do when they enter a supermarket?

That's what three of them did Thursday night in Mui Wo -- they entered a ParknShop there and began grazing on fruits like apples, pears and cherries on the shelves.

The supermarket staff contacted police, and when the bulls finally left, the contaminated produce was disposed of and the area where they were munching on was disinfected.

While some may have found the incident amusing, animal welfare activists say it's a warning of more of these events to come.

"A lot of farmland has been turned into soccer fields or warehouses in recent years. The bulls simply do not have enough room to rest and not enough grass to eat," says Ho Loy, chairwoman of the Lantau Buffalo Association.

Humans are encroaching further onto the cows' grazing areas

She said some grass areas had been polluted by the illegal dumping of waste, which the government failed to prosecute effectively, and with the increasing numbers of tourists and residents in the area, the wild animals have become less inhibited and gotten used to human feeding them.

They, like creatures in the sea, are unable to discern plastic from real food. In November, an eight-year-old bull named Billy who lived on Pui O beach on Mui Wo, was found dead -- his stomach and intestinal tract were blocked with enough plastic bags to fill two garbage cans.

Shocking?

This is definitely a sign we are encroaching too far into animal habitat and we are leaving too much inedible waste for them to mistakenly eat.

Think Tank Avoids Real Issues

Tung Chee-hwa giving a speech at an Our Foundation Hong Kong event

Hong Kong has a lot of think tanks. They are either run by academics or politicians, the latter of which have some kind of agenda attached to them.

For example, Our Hong Kong Foundation was started by former Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa. Given his connections with Beijing, one can imagine what this think tank's slant is.

Grandpa Tung -- bless him -- is still trying to help solve the city's problems, but he's not really looking at the heart of the issue.

Eva Cheng (third frm left) is executive director of the think tank

He has hired former Amway executive Eva Cheng Kam-fun as executive director of the foundation, but how can someone who did multilevel marketing -- in beauty and health -- know how to tackle Hong Kong's biggest concerns in housing, education, employment and the environment?

However, the think tank seems to believe that inspiring a new generation of scientists and innovators is the solution, organizing Innotech Expo 2016 that starts on Saturday to October 1 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Is this another way for Hong Kong's elite to try to distract youth from the main issues at hand (and doing a poor job of it), or does the pro-establishment body really believe technology is the answer?

The real problem is that the Hong Kong government is completely out of touch with the problems average locals are facing. Housing prices are still far out of reach of most people, and now first-time buyers are stuck buying microflats that are less than 200 square feet. How does that give anyone a sense of dignity?

Where does the government plan to house people like her?

And why are there two main supermarket chains that basically have the same prices? From 1996 to 2000 there was a French hypermarket called Carrefour that entered the market, but mysteriously suppliers refused to deliver products to its stores. Something fishy was going on there... As a result customers lose and for the most part are stuck paying Wellcome and ParknShop prices for average products.

Why is the government not helping the poor and instead spending lavishly on large infrastructure projects that have little meaning or use to Hong Kong? Many are dreading when the Hong Kong-Macau-Zhuhai bridge opens and seeing a flood of people coming over.

The latest report on the poor is that the government is now cracking down on illegal flats, many of which are in industrial buildings, thus evicting many people on or below the poverty line. Where are they going to go? Does the government even have a plan in place for the thousands of people who are forced to live like this because there isn't enough social housing for them?

Even more bizarre is that the government has so much money in its coffers and yet it cannot or will not house the poor, instead making them fend for themselves. It treats them as if they did not work hard enough, but for many, economic circumstances have made them barely able to eke out a living.

Hong Kong is not a social welfare place, so why would the government think the poor just want to leech off its money?

And why be so stingy about the money it gives to the elderly? Meanwhile the health care system, while equitable, doesn't have enough staff, many top doctors and nurses lured into the private system. In about 15 years there will be a lot of people growing old -- is Hong Kong prepared for the impending onslaught?

Then there's pollution and the environment, where the government isn't doing enough to encourage recycling let alone telling people to consume less. Oh wait. The city is dependent on consumerism. Setting up a task force with Guangzhou on dumping marine refuse isn't really going to solve the problem of garbage washing up on our shores either.

I could go on and on. Our Hong Kong Foundation thinks if young people got jobs in the technology sector then everything will be solved. How about trying to tackle some of the above mentioned issues? That would make all of us a bit happier.

Not Too Sentimental

Li Ka-shing is Hong Kong's wealthiest man with a global outlook

As a skillful tycoon, worth US$31.3 billion this year according to Forbes, Li Ka-shing has learned not to be sentimental about his investments.

Up until a few years ago Hong Kong people were enamoured with the richest man in town, whose rags-to-riches story has been well documented, making plastic flowers and eventually investing in real estate. His empire now includes property development, telecommunications, ports, supermarkets, utilities, retail, oil and even venture capitalist investments in vegetarian meat.

But in the last few years he became the token tycoon we all love to hate. He -- oh sorry his companies -- have made people feel cheated with unscrupulous practices particularly when it comes to selling flats, and with only two main supermarket chains in Hong Kong, one of which is his, prices aren't very competitive, leaving the consumer not much choice but to shell out.

Victor Li says the company is keen to look at deals

His control over the city's economy is a testament to his ability to beat the system, and also the government's inability or unwillingness to rein in his and other tycoons' power. This wealth inequality was one of the sparks of the Umbrella Movement in 2014, though nothing was resolved on that front, and we were resigned to continuing to give a good chunk of our paychecks to Li everyday.

He has decided to focus more on global property investments, which seems prudent from a global, tycoon point of view to spread risk. But that also means he is unsentimental about the city where he started his fortunes.

Cheung Kong Property Holdings made its latest statement to the stock exchange on Wednesday and Li said:

As it is presently challenging to identify property investments with reasonable returns in the current cyclical stage of the property market, the Group will also pursue global investments to extend our reach to new business areas.

Li invests in vegetarian meats, and here fries an alternative egg

The following day, Li's son Victor who is deputy chairman, was asked by financial analysts if the company was considering selling commercial properties.

"I always look at deals, it's my job to look at deals, both purchases and sales. "There is no deal that we must have, there is no property we must own, other than this building -- we do need an office ourselves," he said, referring to the Cheung Kong Centre where CK Property has its headquarters.

Well OK. Maybe Li has a soft spot for his headquarters, but other than that, let's make a deal...

#firstworldproblems

People in Hong Kong seem to complain to leverage something out of it...

It seems that Hong Kong people love to complain. About everything.

And many use social media as a weapon to threaten businesses to expose what they think is a massive injustice to them.

For example, a friend went to Park N Shop, a regular supermarket, to buy a bun to accompany a salad she had at home. She just wanted to buy the pork bun, but in front of her was a customer who came to return a bun with figs in it -- because it didn't have enough figs in it.

Seriously? This is Park N Shop. This isn't a famous gourmet bakery that stakes its reputation on quality.

But my friend noted that the server was very patient, helping this woman find a bun with more figs in it and got her one. The customer even demanded the staff cut it open so she could see how much of the fruit was in there.

That server should get the employee of the month award.

Another friend works in a hotel and they received a complaint from a group claiming to have contracted food poisoning after eating at the buffet. But the complaint came four days after the incident, and they said they were still unwell and they had already planned a trip to Japan. If the hotel didn't do anything to compensate, then they would take to social media with their complaint.

Food poisoning is very difficult to prove, especially when people in Hong Kong eat out so much. You also need a big group of people to all fall ill at the same time, because one or two people could be an isolated incident.

But that's not all. Another complainant said traffic in front of the hotel was so bad that it took them forever to get a taxi.

What does that have to do with the hotel? Why not contact the police and tell them to sort out traffic issues in the area?

Yet another complaint came to a friend whose company sold water filters. A customer bought one and said the water from it didn't taste good and felt the water filter was not functioning properly.

The company offered to give him a refund, but he still wanted a media expose about it and contacted a local paper to do a story. But really, if a company is already offering a refund, no questions asked, what is the problem?

How did Hong Kong people become like this?

Many of the complaints outlined here are not worth ranting over. If you didn't get enough figs in the bun then don't buy it from the supermarket anymore, or look more closely next time for one with more figs in it.

Food poisoning needs to have a big group of people -- who report it in a timely manner. Traffic issues? Call the police. And if a company is willing to refund a water filter or give you a new one, what more can you complain?

Rants like these make a mountain out of a molehill and wears down staff who have to deal with them. These people don't want to be cheated -- but out of what?

Can we please be more mature about these things and only complain when it's really justified?

And with all the things happening in the world right now -- particularly the desperate plight of Syrians trying to flee their country -- complaining about small things is really pathetic.

Time to grin and bear it.

#firstworldproblems

No Takers for ParknShop

Li Ka-shing may wonder if his valuations are too high or buyers are too cheap

Tycoon Li Ka-shing must be wondering if his right-hand men have got it wrong or potential suitors are too cheap -- but no one's bid for ParknShop under AS Watson was anywhere close to what he was hoping for.

When the sale of one of Hong Kong's biggest supermarket chains was announced, the media wondered if this was a sign that "Superman" was liquidating his assets and moving out of the city.

There were at least four companies interested in ParknShop -- Thai industrial giant Charoen Pokphand Group, Australian retailer Woolworths, state-owned China Resources Enterprise and Japan's Aeon.

But in the end only two companies made non-legally binding bids which were far below what Li and parent company Hutchison Whampoa, that includes AS Watson retailing.

"We're talking about $1 billion or even $2 billion in difference [between the bids and the expected price level] rather than just several hundred million," said a source close to the matter. "Such a big difference can easily and quickly kill the deal because there will be almost no room for negotiations."

Hutchison was looking for $4 billion, but one of the two bidders only put in a $2 billion bid.

So on October 18, Hutchison surprised everyone again and scrapped the ParknShop sale, and announced it would start a review to maximize the value of the retail business.

While ParknShop looks like a nice supermarket, the fresh produce is shockingly bad. There were rumours that ParknShop didn't handle its produce well and housewives would complain that fruits and vegetables were regularly off because they weren't refrigerated in cold temperatures.

I myself have experienced two incidents where the eggs were off -- and one of the eggs contained a black yolk. Needless to say it stank badly and since then I have refused to buy eggs at ParknShop again. I have pretty much stopped buying fresh produce there.

The fruits and vegetables seem to be in a sad state there and so I resort to either shopping in the wet markets during the weekends or at competitor Wellcome, which has cornered 70 percent of Hong Kong's grocery market.

Seems like more of Li's sheen is rubbing off and fewer people are pleased with his business schemes to squeeze even more profits out of ordinary folk.

The man is 85 years old and according to Forbes, as of March Li is worth $31 billion. How much more money can he need?