Two Charged for Misleading Contact-Tracing Information

The first local mutant virus strain was found in Jordan in April

A 29-year-old engineer who came back to Hong Kong on holiday from working in Dubai has been charged along with his 31-year-old female friend for withholding details or providing misleading information after it was discovered they were carrying a mutant strain of Covid-19 in the community.

They were arrested Saturday morning taken to Yau Ma Tei police station, the man charged with giving misleading information, the woman for refusing to provide more detailed information.

The pair were taken to Yau Ma Tei police station

It was recently discovered there was a link between the couple and three domestic helpers who were also infected with the same strain of the mutated virus.

The man and his girlfriend, who were infected around three weeks ago, met relatives in Chai Wan, and then three people from that gathering met with the three domestic helpers a few days later in Tung Chung.

Under the Prevention and Control of Disease Ordinance, anyone who knowingly gives false or misleading information in such matters -- including whereabouts, medical history and contact with others -- faces a HK$10,000 fine and six months in jail.

It's good the authorities are cracking down on those who have been found to be withholding information, as this is about protecting public health.

How about charges for those dancing tai tais?

But what about those tai tais and their friends who danced nights away mask-less in dance clubs in November? They refused to reveal all the people they came into contact with. Why not prosecute them? They are responsible for the extended fourth wave we all had to go through...

 

 

Coronavirus Cases Continue to Surge

Carrie Lam with Sophia Chan announcing new restrictions

 

We can thank tai tais for the fourth wave of the coronavirus. There are over 180 cases linked to dance clubs, 21 place spread all over the city. Avid dancers don't just go to one location, and even the dancing companions will also move around the different clubs to dance with middle-aged women.

There are videos going around of these people dancing maskless and in very close proximity to each other which is shocking to see and one wonders why these people are not worried at all.

One dance cluster was at this Wan Chai club

Despite the surge in cases, the government has not ordered these dance clubs to close, and instead is forcing bars, pubs, night clubs, party rooms and saunas to close from Thursday for at least a week.

Meanwhile restaurants, including those in hotels, will be limited to only serving a maximum of 40 customers, as they will only be allowed to have 10 tables, with at most four diners per table. 

The bar industry was infuriated by the latest announcement, as the latest cases did not stem from bars and pubs, and yet it was being punished -- again.

"It's very unfair. We are in a very passive position, because no matter what we do... we have executed all the measures and also followed closely every single regulation, but we are still the one to blame," said Anthea Cheung, director of the Lan Kwai Fong Association.

Bars in Lan Kwai Fong will shut again

"We are getting ready for the promotion of Christmas. Maybe 50 percent of our outlets will close [down] because it's our high season where we get most of our revenue from."

Meanwhile gyms have escaped further restrictions this time around, though it could only be a matter of time before they are closed as well. 

In a bid to help make contact tracing easier, the government has developed the "Leave Home Safe" app, where people can "check-in" at over 10,000 establishments in the city by scanning a QR code when they go in, and then when they leave, they can register that they have left the premises. 

Not only does it track where people have been, but can also alert them if someone else tested positive was in the vicinity at the same time as the user.

People can track where they've been with an app

A reporter found some of the QR codes were easy to find, others were hidden in obscure areas of buildings. While the government says downloading the app and using it is voluntary, it kind of defeats the purpose if not everyone uses it...

However, if things get worse, the government may make using the app mandatory -- just like taking one's temperature before going in, scanning the code may be too.

In the meantime the government should really examine its restrictions and shut down dance clubs for now. 

As most of the patrons are tai tais, they have infected other posh locations, like the two clubhouses at the Happy Valley racetrack, Hong Kong Club, Ladies Recreation Club, and Hong Kong Cricket Club.

So much for staying away from the plebeians -- these tai tais have infected their members-only hangouts and will probably be socially shunned later.

Oh the horror!

Not Everyone Gets Social Distancing

Health officials give updates everyday to the media about the cases in HK

Today Hong Kong reported the lowest number of new cases -- 13 -- which could mean the city has turned a corner, but health experts cautioned the city's residents still had to remain vigilant in the next few weeks.

Of the 13 cases, 10 were from overseas. The total number of cases is now 973.

Everyone who comes back to HK is screened for the virus

From tomorrow beauty salons and massage parlours will be shut for two weeks, and in the last day or so tai tais squeezed in their last facial, manicure and pedicure appointments. The rest of us will have very long hair and tight shoulders and necks until this pandemic is under control in Hong Kong.

This afternoon I got a text message from a gweilo friend who has lived here for a long time and was here during SARS in 2003.

He asked me: "I need your advice. Can I have a dinner party at home for more than four people?"

I was floored. After the government banned public gatherings of more than four people on March 29, he was asking me this question over a week later.

My response? I advised him not to, saying we should practice social distancing.

Since March 29, no more than four to a table in restaurants

"Then shall I get rid of my maid?" as he thought the maid was making the number of people in his home more than four.

I realized I had to literally spell it out to him. My reply was that legally he could have as many people as he wanted at home, but did he want the Centre for Health Protection to report in the daily press briefing that there was a cluster of positive cases in his home?

"Scary!" he replied.

I am so surprised there are still people in Hong Kong who still don't know what the rules are. I'm glad he asked me to clarify, but he should know this by now!

Hong Kong's Bubble Class

Prince's Building in Central, where many tai tais like to shop and dine...

In Hong Kong, there are some people who completely live in a bubble.

They are so used to other people serving them that they can't do anything themselves.

And I was incredulous to witness this first hand this afternoon.

I was in a card shop in Prince's Building in Central, and one young expat woman was asking a barrage of questions, where wrapping paper was, if there was black cellophane tape and so on, while the one staff manning the shop was trying to look after another customer. Was she really in that much of a hurry that she couldn't browse and find the items herself?

Trying to be polite, the staff member did her best to multitask, though at one point she had to leave the cashier to help the woman find all the stuff she needed. No matter that it cost more than HK$600...

Then there was a tai tai in her 60s who asked if the shop had gift tags in the form of stickers. The staff affirmed there were, but the tai tai had to know exactly where and even though she was pointed in the right vicinity, she still couldn't find them.

She seemed to want the sales staff to again leave her position at the cashier to make the rest of us wait, but the staff refused to budge, probably used to seeing many customers like her.

Finally the tai tai finally found something, and even though she opened it up to see what was inside, she had to ask the staff again how big the stickers were even though it was clearly shown.

In the end she paid for it, but how pathetic is that?

Can this tai tai not do anything herself?

Has Hong Kong's elite really degenerated into a segment of the population that expects everyone to wait on them hand and foot?

Or have we enabled them to be like this?

Either way it's no wonder they are completely clueless about what's really happening in the city!