HK Records over 1,100 Covid-19 Cases

Men desperate to get a last haircut in before barbers shut

This morning it was shocking to find out via Bloomberg that Hong Kong had more than 1,100 cases today.

It was almost double yesterday. As the infectious disease experts had predicted, the infection numbers have shot up in a short period of time.

The goal of reaching "zero Covid" seems like a mirage in the distance.

Vegetables have disappeared from shelves

Today men and women, but mostly men rushed to hair salons and barbers to get their last proper hair cut before they shut at midnight. Many do not think hair salons or religious venues will re-open on February 24.

Meanwhile some report zero access to fresh vegetables in their supermarkets with pictures of empty shelves. Some sarcastically noted only coriander was left behind, while another said it was turnips where they were. Frozen vegetables are also a hot commodity.

There was a picture of a woman stocking up on toilet paper again... are we seriously repeating 2020?

Then there are long, long lines of people waiting to get tested in various areas around town. Some 20,000 people need to get tested in Discovery Bay after sewage tests showed up positive for Covid-19. Anyone who spent two hours or more there between January 26 and February 8 must get tested. 

People worried being in line would result in them being infected and felt the sewage tests were not helpful.

Despite high case numbers, Lam is still maskless

Many residents are incensed that Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor continues to speak at press conferences without a mask when her own health experts have advised everyone to wear a mask except when eating and drinking.

Some are beginning to think Lam is exacting revenge on Hongkongers by flouting the rules because... she's the chief executive. 

If that is the case, is she really committed to getting the city back to "zero Covid"? Or is she happy to have Hong Kong in a mess, stressing people out about having to comply to the latest restrictions on top of avoiding getting infected? 

By the way don't even think about meeting more than one person on the street at the same time -- you could be fined HK$5,000 on the spot and the police are out in force and gleefully handing out tickets.

One person sarcastically suggested on social media this was perhaps the government's way of paying for the HK$26 billion for the anti-epidemic fund.

Then there appears to be some power plays by the Executive Council... Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee claims Exco announced the latest social-distancing measures yesterday before Lam could...  Maybe that explains why she deferred to the 4.30pm press conference for further details...

Two families being fined by police today

The one good thing that happened today was that more elderly people got their first jabs.

About 1.19 percent of seniors aged 70-79 got inoculated, the highest percentage for any age group in a single day since the start of the vaccination program.

Also just over 1 percent of people 80 years and over got jabbed too.

In the meantime it looks like Valentine's Day is cancelled for restaurants. With the number of cases doubling every two days or so, the chances of someone wanting to eat out are very slim now. No one wants to get infected or dragged into Penny's Bay for quarantine.

What has Hong Kong turned into? It's absolute madness and we're into the ninth day of the Lunar New Year. The Year of the Water Tiger is not doing well at all, let alone the start of 2022. 

Can we start over again?

 

Health Secretary says Technology to Protect HK from Fifth Wave

Chan says more needs to be done to prepare for fifth wave

It is quite surprising for Secretary for Health Sophia Chan Siu-mee to admit that Hong Kong is not ready for the possible fifth wave in the coronavirus pandemic, and that the answer is more technology, when it really should be injecting more vaccines in arms, especially those of the elderly.

She said made this assessment during the Asia Summit on Global Health today, as the government is jumping through the necessary hoops to be able to open the border with the mainland.

In fact Chief Secretary John Lee Ka-chiu is in Shenzhen now with an official delegation to have high-level talks with Chinese counterparts about a launch date and the circumstances under which the arrangement would be suspended.

Tracing app needs to be used more widely 

Meanwhile the government is stepping up enforcement of everyone in the city using the Leave Home Safe app, making it mandatory in all restaurants and leisure venues, such as cinemas and fitness centres from December 9, in addition to all government buildings including wet markets, concert venues and libraries. As if more people weren't running out to buy burner phones. 

The government hopes that by having more people using the technology, Beijing will be satisfied enough to reopen the border sooner. A colleague speculated China would say our Leave Home Safe app wasn't good enough and force Hong Kong to use its health code app instead...

During the summit Chan said to prepare for the upcoming fifth wave -- supposedly when mainlanders can come down to Hong Kong in droves -- the city needed to use technology to build a data dashboard to monitor Covid-19 cases to conduct sewage surveillance to track down suspected cases.

"Leveraging on all this technology is important. But is it enough? I don't think it is enough," Chan said.

Lee now in Shenzhen talking to Chinese officials

"There are many, many areas that we need to further digitalise, in terms of contract tracing, in terms of the databases we are putting together, the health code that we are developing if we are to resume cross-border travel with the mainland. All these things that we need to continue to push and work on."

It sounds like making busy work for people, which is a very mainland style of doing things, that is hardly efficient. Surely a database of sewage spots regarding positive cases have been recorded and mapped already by epidemiologists. So what more needs to be done? We are doing everything we can already.

However Chan admitted that while Hong Kong's overall vaccination rate is at 70 percent, fewer than one in five residents aged 80 or above have received at least one shot. About 45 percent of those in their seventies have received at least one jab. 

"There is still a big margin for us to [close] in order to keep our elderly safe in the community," Chan said.

Then how about a big drive to get vaccines in people's arms?! Seems pretty logical, no? Or is the government too scared to upset its biggest constituency, who are pro-Beijing and yet believe in all the conspiracy theories?

Higher elderly population needs to be vaccinated

If the vaccination rate for the elderly doesn't see a significant uptick, Hong Kong is going to continue to flounder and more expats are going to leave as well as foreign companies who have had enough. 

In the meantime it's important to mark today being the second anniversary of the 2019 District Council elections when an unprecedented 17 out of 18 districts voted for pro-democracy candidates after months of protests that started off peaceful and became more violent. 

And yet the government didn't heed the voters' wishes and instead dismantled everything they had hoped and believed in as the behest of Beijing.

It was the last time Hongkongers exercised true democracy, and the last time the city would be the way we remembered it.

Lam's Lockdown Plans Need Tweaking

Lam addressed media this afternoon, admitted could be better

Just over a year since the first case of the coronavirus was reported in Hong Kong, the city now has over 10,000 cases and is desperately trying to clamp down on a surge in cases in the Jordan area in Yau Tsim Mong district.

Late last night the government imposed a lockdown at over 100 buildings with streets cordoned off and monitored by police. That meant people coming back late could not go home, while those in their flats could not go out.

Goal was to test 10,000 with results by Monday

Meanwhile healthcare workers went door to door testing people.

The residents in lockdown were given food but there were lots of complaints -- as Hongkongers like to do, but in this case it was quite valid. They were given instant noodles, oranges, white bread, uncooked pasta and canned items like sardines and baked beans.

Instant noodles are hardly nutritious as well as white bread, and what are residents going to cook pasta with if there's no sauce? However, government officials didn't think to ask or know that many of the elderly living in this neighbourhood don't have can openers let alone a kitchen to cook.

They usually depend on social workers to deliver hot food to them, and now they can't come in to help feed them. District councillor Owan Li said the government should have considered delivering hot meals to them.

Lots of instant noodles, oranges and canned food

Nevertheless the food they were given is such a hodge podge... how do you even make a decent meal out of that?

This afternoon Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor gave a press conference near the lockdown area, wearing a black hoodie, while Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee wore a puffy jacket -- in 25 degree weather?!

Lam admitted there was room for improvement. She said the lockdown was difficult to execute without residents knowing, as 3,000 people are involved in administering the operation, and that perhaps people would be less anxious if they knew the lockdown was only for 48 hours and that food would be provided to them, though now we know it wasn't adequate.

She also said the lockdown was nothing like those on the mainland and preferred to call the scheme "restriction testing declaration", and that it would be lifted after testing was completed.

Lam visited the area but was she welcomed?

When questioned by reporters if residents who were inconvenienced by the scheme would be compensated, particularly if they could not get to their jobs, Lam would only reply that residents were supplied with food and there was a hotline to call if they had any questions.

The aim of the lockdown -- I mean "restriction testing declaration" -- is to test 10,000 people by tonight so that they will be able to get back to work by Monday morning. Again the government is oblivious to the possibility that some people work weekends...

What is scary is that Secretary for the Environment Wong Kam-sing reported nearly 90 percent of the sewage samples collected from 40 buildings in this area tested positive for the virus. So having them continue to live in these contaminated places is hardly ideal. 

However, where do you mover 10,000 people? And how can their sewage pipes be fixed?

Covid-19 is not going away in Hong Kong anytime soon, despite wearing your mask everyday, washing your hands and social distancing. The virus has revealed there are too many structural issues causing such a big spread of the virus...