Covid-19 May Have Peaked, Though Wait and See

Has Covid-19 peaked in this wave? May be too early to tell

Hong Kong may indeed have seen a turning point in the fifth wave of the pandemic, as the number of cases are starting to drop, but health officials warn people to continue to be vigilant and see what the situation is like in the next few days.

Today 31,392 cases were recorded, of which 24,380 were from PCR tests, 7,012 from RAT (rapid antigen test). 

However the number of deaths is still high at 281, of which 180 are new, 101 are backlogged. Of the 180 deaths, the age range is 47 to 112 years old and 122 were not vaccinated. Sound familiar? It's sad to hear someone 112 died because they were not jabbed, after all they have gone through.

Au can finally get a haircut with salons reopened

Dr Albert Au Ka-wing of the Centre for Health Protection says the wave may have peaked between March 2-4 when cases were over the 50,000 mark, and now are starting to drop.

"The RAT daily caseload seems to be steady and not increasing. We're starting to see a drop too, so this is positive and it seems there is a chance the numbers will go down. But the public should not let their guard down," Au said.

"The public have worked hard over the past two months to follow social-distancing rules and ramped-up testing. We hope they will continue to follow these measures to further cut off transmission chains so the numbers can keep falling."

He warned people not to be too optimistic because the case numbers were still in the five-figure range could rebound if they were not vigilant.

Government pandemic advisor David Hui Shu-cheong agreed, adding the situation needed to be observed for another week before coming to any conclusions.

Hui admits people not reporting positive results

"The number of positive PCR test results is indeed dropping, but a number of the public have used RAT and authorities told those who tested positive from February 26 to report it within two weeks. Many of them have not done so. Also, many of my friends and relatives chose not to submit their results," he said.

Telling admission from Hui, who is revealing how many people feel about catching Covid-19 and not wanting the authorities to know in case they will be dragged to isolation centres where they have heard horror stories of hygiene and not being allowed out immediately once they are confirmed negative.

However Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung warned that residents who refuse to go to an isolation centre would face a HK$5,000 (US$639) fine and two months' imprisonment, while those who left such facilities during quarantine could also face a HK$5,000 fine and six months behind bars.

So where is the incentive to willingly report that you're infected?

Currently about 18,800 rooms for isolation are being used, about 40 percent.

This afternoon a woman I met a few months ago forwarded a voice message to me. It wasn't her voice, but a man explaining how to treat Omicron with Chinese medicine. He explained the Lianhua Qingwen capsules were effective -- but even more so when removing the powdered medicine from the capsules and swallowing it directly to make them even more effective.

This herbal medicine does not cure Covid-19

This is so bizarre, first of all Lianhua Qingwen is not considered a viable medication to fight Covid-19. The Singaporean Health Sciences Authority released a notice from last November stating there is not scientific evidence that any herbal product, including Lianhua Qingwen can be used to prevent or treat Covid-19.

In addition, when capsules are swallowed, they dissolve quickly anyway -- how is swallowing powdered herbal medicine going to treat someone even faster? It was a ridiculous suggestion and for it to be spread through Whatsapp is irresponsible too.

But here we are, still spreading misinformation and disinformation in the third year of the pandemic.

Either way, people are figuring out how to treat Covid-19 in their own way to avoid isolation as much as possible!

 

Were Devices Taken Across the Border?

Did the Hong Kong police send devices to China? It says no

Yesterday The Washington Post reported that the 53 pro-democracy activists who were arrested in one massive operation last week that later included Joshua Wong Chi-fung and radio presenter Tam Tak-chi already in jail, had their phones and laptops taken away to the mainland to extract information from them.

Activist Owen Chow Ka-shing said that when he was arrested, the police already had the phone numbers of his three phones, calling each one to locate them in his flat. 

Owen Chan says police took his three phones

In the end the police took 200 devices from the 53 activists who were arrested in one day and The Post says these digital items were sent to the mainland where the authorities there have sophisticated data-extraction technology, according to two sources.

After the activists and former lawmakers were released on bail and their devices returned to them, they later reported unusual activity on their social media. For example, even though Tam was in jail, it looked like he joined the encrypted messaging app Telegram and contacted people on it.

The administrator of his Facebook page said Tam did not reactivate his account and urged people to ignore the messages.

However today, the Hong Kong police spokesman Kwok Ka-chuen rejected the claims in The Post's report and denied the seized devices were sent to the mainland.

53 people were arrested, 200 devices taken Jan 6

It also condemned what it said were unfounded accusations, saying people with ulterior motives were spreading misinformation through the media to mislead the public and incite hatred towards the police.

Meanwhile The Post's reporter, Shibani Mahtani said she sought police comment before the story was published and did not receive a denial from the police's public relations branch.

"We stand by our reporting and sourcing," she said on Twitter.

Then how does one explain why Tam was supposedly on Telegram when he was in a jail cell, and the unusual social media activity while the activists and former lawmakers were detained by police?

Nevertheless the police should have denied the police report when it was given the chance. Responding to a story more than 12 hours later doesn't help the force's image.

People are joining Signal, but will they use it?

In the meantime in the last few days, lots of people have opened accounts on Signal, another encrypted messaging app, worried their data on Whatsapp will be shared by its parent company, Facebook.

It is quite amusing to see a massive migration of people to the app, but will they really use it when the vast majority of people still use Whatsapp and Facebook?

I joined Signal last year but have only really used it once...

Quarantine Experience Revealed

One of the nicer rooms in a public housing flat in Fo Tan

Today was our first day back in the office for many of us, and it was strange to be suddenly back in the place we escaped from almost two months ago when there was a positive coronavirus case.

Everything was just as we had left it, as if we had been away for a long holiday and were now back.

Just before our office was shut down in mid-March, we had been wearing masks all day in the office, and now that rule was definitely in force, though many could not stand to wear literally all day (can you guess who?).

Here was the bathroom situation in the room

Colleagues who were "close contacts" of the infected person told us about their experiences of being in government quarantine. While the conditions didn't even make the three-star hotel grade, two of them said repeatedly the people who were looking after them, young volunteers, were so nice and helpful.

If my colleagues needed water, or more food, or something was wrong with their room, these volunteers working in shifts would respond relatively quickly on Whatsapp and give them what they needed.

One had a bed with literally a wooden mattress; she showed us a video of her knocking her hand on the mattress and it was rock hard. Thankfully our office administrator sent my colleague a soft mattress to put on top so she could actually have a relatively decent sleep.

They both said the cleanliness of the rooms was questionable, so the first thing they did upon entering the room was to wipe it down completely before even putting their bag down...

Friends and family could deliver things to the entrance of the quarantine centre, but they could not give them any cooked food, as the rooms had no refrigerator, and also they there was no way to treat you if you got sick.

Three meals a day kind of looked like this

One colleague's parents brought her lots of snacks to keep her occupied, and she even had time to prepare and had a bottle of chilli sauce to make her meals more palatable.

Another had a nice-looking room and even got to go outdoors periodically, but the wifi was very spotty so she couldn't watch Netflix and ended up sleeping a lot to pass the time.

When their quarantine time was done, they were so grateful for everything when they came back into civilization. A mundane trip to the supermarket was so exciting and being able to cook their own food was a revelation.

The experience has made them wary of the possibility of encountering someone positive again. One of them has even prepared a bag of necessities just in case she needs to go into quarantine again!

Guess you can never be prepared enough for a pandemic...

Hongkongers' Coronavirus Concerns Grow

Even the MTR is very quiet, with not many people using public transport

Hong Kong is very quiet.

There aren't many people out on the streets, on the MTR, in shopping malls.

It's really eerie.

Yesterday I overheard some women in the gym discussing if Hongkongers' reaction to the coronavirus was an overreaction or not. One thought it was, the other not. Interestingly they were diplomatic about it and didn't get heated like the protests that had consumed the city months earlier.

Shopping malls like Times Square have few customers

Maybe it's because the epicentre is in Wuhan and not Hong Kong.

In the evening my relatives who were here during SARS are taking every precaution to protect themselves as much as possible.

When they heard the news that a Chinese doctor claimed to have contracted the coronavirus through his eyes, my relatives stopped wearing contacts and only wears glasses now. If there is a period where the coronavirus is so virulent that they can't go out for a few days, they have bought enough cup noodles and noodles to keep them alive.

However their biggest worry is sourcing masks. Not just any mask, but masks not made in China. "Do you dare to wear one made from China?" my uncle asked.

They are heading to Japan for a trip they had planned months ago and will scour every stop they go to for masks. This is their main mission now.

Almost everyone wears a mask out in public

Then today a friend and I met up for brunch and he is mentally overwhelmed by it, probably exhausted after dealing with eight months of protests and seeing the economic impact it has had on Hong Kong and now the coronavirus.

He wants to take a break and leave Hong Kong before more countries make it harder for us living here to get out. The United States, European Union, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore have all banned or restricted the entry of Chinese citizens and foreigners who have visited China recently. The list could keep growing thanks to the World Health Organization declaring a global public health emergency.

As we were discussing this, we heard gales of laughter and shrieks coming from the tables behind us, diners who seemed completely unaware or oblivious to the health crisis in the city.

Meanwhile I had dinner with another friend who is hoping that not all the shows for the upcoming Hong Kong Arts Festival will be cancelled. But the Boston Symphony Orchestra which was supposed to open the festival on February 12 and 13 has bowed out due to concerns of the coronavirus, and with a number of Leisure and Cultural Services Department venues closed indefinitely, it's hard to tell if the festival will continue at this rate.

The Boston Symphony Orchestra has cancelled its Asia trip

After dinner we walked through IFC mall and at 8.15pm it was a ghost town. Most of the shops were already closed. I wandered through the supermarket CitySuper and usually it's busy with people getting their food shopping done for the week, but there was less than half the crowd.

For Hong Kong this is only the first week of the coronavirus. The statistics are staggering, with so far over 14,500 confirmed cases globally, 305 deaths, including one in the Philippines.

A Whatsapp message is going around today, a voice message apparently from Dr Ho Pak-leung recorded yesterday, who says the coronavirus could be transmitted through faeces and that people should close the lid of the toilet before flushing.

He also suggests pouring some water in the drain in the bathroom floor everyday, though I couldn't understand the reasoning except perhaps to ensure the pipes are functioning?

This just adds to more anxiety for everyone with more things to do and worry about.

Meanwhile Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor refused to meet with members of the Hospital Authority Employees Alliance today, and so the strike will go ahead tomorrow. This is contrary to what Lam has said before, that she would be willing to listen to what others had to say.

The health care union said Carrie Lam didn't come to meet them

The fact that she didn't even want to meet the union suggests she is not interested in trying to understand the healthcare sectors' concerns, even if they are complaints about how the government has handled this crisis so far. It is the least she can do.

But perhaps she has other things to do, like get her hair done.

Everyone is frustrated by the government's inaction. My friend at brunch kept saying how the Macanese government was decisive in making sure it sourced 20 million masks for its residents and they could get 10 masks at a low prices every 10 days, while the Hong Kong government has done nothing of the sort.

At the same time he upset by the price gouging by opportunistic businesses, or having to wait in line for hours.

And this is only the start of the coronavirus crisis... it maybe a few months yet before Hong Kong and the rest of the world are in the clear...

Dramatic Twist to Elections

Ken Chow claims there were threats against him if he campaigned further

There is over a week to go before the Legislative Council elections and things have already gotten bizarre with one candidate running in the highly contested New Territories West abruptly announced he was not running anymore during an election debate on Cable TV last night.

Liberal Party candidate Ken Chow Wing-kan said he feared for the safety of people close to him after he received threats that 20 or 30 people would "pursue" him at an election forum "until he had no mood for such forums anymore".

"As I don't want my loved ones to be in even higher level of trouble or pay any price, I will suspend all campaign activities for getting voters' support," he said reading a statement as part of his opening speech.

Junius Ho says the claims against him are to smear him

He then bowed in front of the camera to apologize to friends and volunteers who supported him.

Later Chow even distributed the voice clip of the threat to the media.

Junius Ho Kwan-yiu, another candidate running in the same geographic constituency, admitted the voice on the clip was one of his volunteers, and immediately claimed he had no knowledge of the apparent threat.

Ho hit back, claiming Chow was trying to smear him, as both seem to be fighting for the same voters. Ho also questioned how Chow managed to get a copy of the clip, that was part of a Whatsapp group chat.

"Where did he get hold of the clip? They were not talking to you. Why are you overreacting like this? You told the media you were scared but you said you would not talk anymore... Isn't he smearing [me]?" asked Ho.

But there's no way to contact Chow to find out more -- he has left Hong Kong and apparently won't be back until after the elections.

Last week E Weekly Magazine reported someone tried to bribe Chow with HK$5 million for him to not stand in the elections but he refused. The amount was double his election spending. Some are speculating the bribe may have come from pro-Beijing supporters.

In his concluding speech at the debate, Chow said, "Death doesn't frighten me. The most horrible thing is that you can't protect those who are important to you.

"I am not afraid of becoming a broken egg, but I fear that those who are close to me will be harmed."

The strange thing is that one you are an approved candidate, you can't just quit. And there was no indication that Chow and his family were in any danger...