Seasons greetings, and a tourism plus pandemic update!

 

Another photo taken while out hiking last week

 

Many people have been taking advantage of the beautiful weather and long (Christmas-Boxing Day) holiday weekend to venture out to various parts of Hong Kong in recent days, and sharing their photos showing that Hong Kong is really beautiful.  Ironically, tourism sector lawmaker Perry Yiu Pak-leung also chose this past weekend to assert that "the charm of Hong Kong as a single destination is limited" -- and thus should be marketed as a twin destination along with Macau for "great synergy".

 

I'm not going to deny that Macau is not without any charms (and I do miss my once annual trips to the former Portugese enclave that used to be a convenient one hour ferry ride away).  But there's no way I believe that it's got more to offer to tourists and travellers than Hong Kong; this not least since the 118 square kilometer sized territory is dwarfed by 1,118 square kilometer Hong Kong!

 

And while it's true that Hong Kong has not had many visitors in recent years, that's due far more to Hong Kong's harsh pandemic rules and regulations -- which remain more restrictive than anything to be found in pretty much the rest of the world, especially now that Mainland China suddenly abandoned its Zero Covid ways a few weeks ago -- and the scary national security law that China imposed on it on June 30th, 2020!    

 

In addition, something that wasn't helping make Hong Kong attractive to non-Mainland Chinese tourists as well as negatively affected Hong Kongers' quality of life for several years leading up to 2020 was the vast numbers of Mainland Chinese visitors that were regularly flooding into Hong Kong (peaking at 51.04 million in 2018).  And I have to say that one of the greatest boons of the pandemic has been how much less crowded many areas of Hong Kong -- including Tsim Sha Tsui (which is home to the greatest density of hotels in Hong Kong), Mongkok (a popular shopping area) and Causeway Bay (another major shopping area) -- have been and, consequently, a greater pleasure to stroll around than previously was the case.

 

So I'd think that many Hong Kongers are absolutely not looking forward to the Hong Kong-Mainland China border reopening any time soon.  And of course this feeling is exacerbated by China currently experiencing a Covid outbreak so massive -- as in possibly 250 million people being infected in December alone! -- that it's caused the Zero Covid policy to fail spectacularly and China's top health body to stop publishing daily Covid figures (be it from shame -- since it's been estimated that the country could see as many as 1 million pandemic deaths -- or because things are so out of control that they no longer can get any reliable figures).

 

It's not just the thought of many infected people flooding into Hong Kong from Mainland China.  Rather, it's also the fear that they will overwhelm Hong Kong's health services and such.  (Something which won't be all that difficult to do since there already were concerns expressed late last week by public hospital chief Tony Ko about emergency rooms being inundated and long waiting times over the holiday period.  Oh, and the overall occupancy of medical beds in acute hospitals is currently at around 112 per cent!)

 

It really did not assure Hong Kongers that early last week, as former Hong Kong pro-democracy legislative councillor Charles Mok reported, "Mainland residents are told by Fosun Pharma, distributor of Pfizer-BioNTech's Covid vaccines in greater China region, that they can go to Hong Kong to get the bivalent vaccine."  Also, last Tuesday, the Hong Kong government announced that all of Hong Kong’s available Covid vaccines (CoronaVac, the BioNTech monovalent, and the BioNTech bivalent) were now registered as pharmaceutical products and, as such, no longer required emergency use authorization by the Secretary of Health -- paving the way for "an inevitable onslaught of mainlanders coming to the city for mRNA vaccines" which have not been available to them over in Mainland China.

 

In anticipation of this, there have been calls -- including by a University of Hong Kong virologist and the head of a Hong Kong pharmacists' group -- on the authorities "to consider charging non-residents for Covid vaccinations here".  The president of The Society of Hospital Pharmacists, William Chu, also warned that "free jabs and treatments could prompt too many to cross the border to access medical services here and burden the local system.  "People from mainland China demand for more symptomatic relief medications," he said. "They may go to Hong Kong to get more medications. At the moment they are looking for medications on the mainland but the supply is very limited.""

 

Already, there have been reports galore of Hong Kong pharmacies having run out of Panadol and related medicines thanks to people snapping them out to send to their relatives and friends in Mainland China.  I hate to say this but the sight of empty shelves is leading to talk of "locusts" again.  And, at the very least, it's adding to the fears and repulsion people have at the thought of Mainland Chinese "tourists" -- shoppers, more than anything else, really -- descending on Hong Kong in droves once more.     

We always knew that it would be a case of when, not if, they would return.  Now it's looking very much like it will happen next month, and maybe even early in January.  Ironically, up until the past few weeks, there had been suggestions that many Mainland Chinese people would want to avoid Hong Kong, seeing it as "unclean" and "tainted" (since Hong Kong's "Zero Covid" has long been more like "Dynamic Zero" rather than completely in step with what was implemented on the other side of the Hong Kong-Mainland China border).  

 

A reminder: Hong Kong's Covid numbers have been at five figures with regards to daily new cases for some time; with 18,533 reported for today alone.  Also, the daily critical, ICU and death figures have been on the rise since October.  So, yeah, the pandemic is most certainly not over -- in Hong Kong, Mainland China and the world over.  And the only reason why I don't mention Hong Kong's Covid numbers and situation as a factor in terms of attracting or detracting tourism is because Covid is rampant everywhere and people in many territories have just decided to "live with the virus"!  

A rare Hong Kong government policy reversal and Covid statistics that have a good chance of being false, if not outright (damn) lies!

The Covid vaccination center in Yuen Long

(Yes, in better times, it's actually a sports center!) 

 

Late last night, there came the following piece of news: As reported by Hong Kong's official government broadcaster RTHK, "The government has announced that from Saturday [i.e., today], all incoming travellers – regardless of where they are from – will be required to at least be double-jabbed to be issued a temporary vaccine pass that is needed to enter most public premises."

 

Well, well, well... it seems that after the bombshell revelation by Chief Executive John Lee on Tuesday that people from Mainland China and Macau were allowed to enter Hong Kong and being issued with vaccine passes wthout having been vaccinated (unlike people coming in from other territories and actual Hong Kong residents who have been in Hong Kong throughout the pandemic), we have this: a rare reversal of policy/climb down by the Hong Kong government!  Specifically: “The temporary vaccine pass arrangement [now] applies to all arrivals, including Hong Kong residents and non-Hong Kong residents, as well as travellers from the mainland, Macau, Taiwan and overseas areas,” a government spokesperson said".

 

Quoting again from the RTHK report: "Chief Executive John Lee had on Tuesday explained that mainlanders weren't required to be vaccinated to come to Hong Kong because the infection risk on the mainland is the lowest in the world. But critics [including yours truly!] said the same vaccination requirements should apply to all arrivals because granting exemptions could give people the wrong impression and raise questions about differential treatment."

 

With regards to the reason given by John Lee for why people from Mainland China weren't required to be vaccinated before coming to Hong Kong: This is a bit rich given where the Wuhan coronavirus was first detected and spread out from; and the notorious dubiousness of official Mainland Chinese statistics (including pertaining to Covid pretty much from the get go)!  But, then, as Tim Hamlett pointed out today, Hong Kong's Covid statistics also aren't necessarily all that reliable any more too!  

 

This is down to a number of factors that really come across as own goals by the Hong Kong government.  Also, to be sure, "In the early days of the [pandemic,] anyone who thought they had Covid rushed immediately to the nearest doctor – or if they couldn’t afford a doctor, to the nearest Accident and Emergency Department. Doctors and hospitals were required to report cases of Covid to the authorities. So if we were told there were 1,000 new Covid cases yesterday this was probably – give or take the odd case with no symptoms and the odd false positive – the actual figure."

 

Nowadays, however, many people no longer report their rush to see a doctor -- or make a point to report their having tested positive for Covid.  As Hamlett put it: "Hong Kong people are traditionally self-reliant. The consensus is now that your ordinarily healthy citizen who has had four jabs of the good stuff will either not get Covid or will get the harmless version. The ailment is no longer a public problem. We can handle it ourselves."

 

And lest it not be clear: "My point is not that the official figure is too low. My point is that it is worthless. It could be too high, though that seems unlikely, or it could be too low. Covid has ceased to be a disease which is routinely reported, so we have no reliable way of knowing how prevalent it now is"! 

 

Some other things that should not need to be stated but are in the article, so I'm going ahead and quoting the relevant portion of the think piece for the record: "There is no Chinese medicine, traditional or otherwise, that has any demonstrable effect on Covid. The limits on gatherings – 500 for marathons, eight for dinners, four for political protests – make no sense. Too many top, and not-so-top, people seem to be exempt from all restrictions."  Oh, and the Hong Kong government's handling of Covid seems "to be out of step with the rest of the world, bewilderingly changeable, and prone to political pollution"!

Bombshell revelation by John Lee about unvaccinated Mainlanders being able to obtain Hong Kong vaccines passes!

If  the Hong Kong government were serious about getting the elderly

vaccinated, there would be more of these PSAs about than

HKSAR 25th anniversary and China 73rd anniversary banners!

 

I felt very hot earlier today; and not just because Hong Kong recorded its highest temperatures ever in September (e.g., 35 degrees Celsius at the Hong Kong Observatory in Tsim Sha Tsui) today.  Rather, it's because at his weekly press conference this morning, Chief Executive John Lee was reported to have said things like, as turned into Twitterspeak by Tripperhead, "Need to raise vax rate. Covid isn't the flu. Six times more deadly" that got more than one person thinking of the infamous saying that "There are lies, damn lies, and statistics".

In response, another member of the Twitterati, Joel Chan, was moved to supply some contextual as well as comparative statistics.  Among them: "Case fatality rates: Seasonal flu (US CDC, 2010-2019): ~0.097%-0.2% ; Covid-19, Hong Kong, 6th wave (estimate): 0.096% (432 deaths and 448121 cases since May 31)."  Also: "Case fatality rates, Covid-19 Singapore (since 2019): 0.086% Hong Kong 6th wave only: 0.096% Hong Kong 5th & 6th wave: 0.62%" as well as pointing out that "The reason Covid’s death rate during the 5th & 6th wave is 6 times higher than flu is because the elderly weren’t vaxxed and the hospital system crashed".

 

Still, THE point from today's conference that nearly caused me to pop a vein was this: "Unvaccinated individuals travelling from mainland China to Hong Kong can obtain a Vaccine Pass after entering the city because of the low Covid-19 infection rate across the border, Chief Executive John Lee has said, adding that the policy had been in place “for a long time."  Here's the thing though: the policy may have been in place "for a long time" but the first time that I -- and many other people -- heard of it was today!  In other words: a major bombshell just dropped as far as the likes of us were concerned!

 

"“The main reason is that the risk of Covid-19 infection in the mainland is the lowest in the world,” Lee said. “Its risk, when compared with Hong Kong, has been much lower.”"  Really, now?  I mean, sure we have official statistics from the Chinese government -- but how trustworthy are those?  We're talking, after all, about the government in whose country the Wuhan coronavirus was first detected and who sought to suppress this news for a time!

The Hong Kong Free Press piece I previously quoted goes on to state this: "As per a government statement published on May 5, arrivals from the mainland or Macau who were not required to undergo compulsory quarantine have been allowed to obtain the provisional Vaccine Pass by completing a declaration form as well as presenting their identity document and “other relevant proof” at a designated post office. The provisional pass remains valid for 180 days."

 

So... there have been who knows how many people from Mainland China and Macau coming to Hong Kong for some time now who are unvaccinated yet can get a Vaccine Pass.  Semantics aside (think about it: they managed to get a vaccine pass without getting vaccinated), why the hell have they been allowed to do so but similarly unvaccinated Hong Kongers not?!  

And health concerns aside, I foresee some negative reactions to this disclosure today by John Lee.  One involves Hong Kongers now feeling they have health reasons to discriminate against any Mainland Chinese person -- even though some of them may be/are vaccinated and some of them actually Hong Kong (permanent) residents who have had to adhere to the same rules and regulation as other Hong Kong residents.  Another involves those exempt Mainland Chinese feeling that they are, in fact, "cleaner" and more superior than Hong Kongers.  A third involves even more Hong Kongers now not wanting to get vaccinated, boosted and/or double boosted.  And a fourth involves even more Hong Kongers not wanting to use the Leave Home Safe app that's part of the whole Vaccine Pass thang!

 

Some more from the Hong Kong Free Press article: "Meanwhile, those who visit the city from overseas must have received at least two jabs to obtain the provisional pass. International arrivals must also quarantine at a designated hotel at their own expense for three nights upon entering the city, followed by four days of “medical surveillance,” during which they will be issued a yellow code in their LeaveHomeSafe app that bars them from entering restaurants and other premises under the vaccine pass scheme."  And remember, these include Hong Kongers returning from other terrritories (besides, we now know, Macau and Mainland China).

Another famous quote comes to mind as a result: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."  Yep.  From George Orwell's Animal Farm -- much of which, together with his 1984, often resonates a lot for those of us living in Hong Kong 2022.

Set-in-Macau Madalena benefits much from having the capable Hong Kong cinema leads that it does (Film review)

The lead actor, director and lead actress of Magdalena took part in 

a post-screening Q&A at the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival

 

Madalena (Macau-Hong Kong, 2021)

- Emily Chan, director and scriptwriter

- Starring: Louis Cheung, Chrissie Chau

 

The 18th edition of the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival officially began on October 27th with two opening films, both helmed by female filmmakers.  Not being a fan (to put it mildly) of Aubrey Lam's Twelve Nights, I wasn't keen to check out her Twelve Days (which is a thematic continuation of her first film, made 21 years ago).  So it was an easy decision to opt to view the fest's other opening film: debutante director Emily Chan's set-in-Macau Madalena; this not least since I had mistakenly thought that it was another dramatic effort by another female filmmaker from Macau, Tracy Choi!

 

Continuing with the confessions: I actually came out of the screening of Madalena thinking that it had indeed been made by the director of Sisterhood, and only realized that it was not the case when I looked up Emily Chan's filmography!  One reason is that both films (which, incidentally, are the only two movies from Macau that I've viewed to date) have a similar stylistic "feel" in terms of their being human-scale works which are confident enough to take their time to led the audience get to know their main characters and to tell their stories.  For another, they both focus on depicting prosaic parts of Macau which are far from the glitz and money that is associated with it being, at least before the pandemic, the casino capital of the world.      

In the case of Madalena, its two protagonists are a taxi driver named Mada (Louis Cheung) and a woman who supplements her waitressing day job with being a "beer girl" at night called Lena (Chrissie Chau).  Abandoned by his wife two years ago, Mada still badly pines for her and attempts to literally drink away his sorrows and longings when he's off work.  And it's only after a chance meeting with Lena that he starts to feel that life is worth living again; this even though their first meeting hardly gets off to a good start, with her pepper spraying him in the face after mistakenly thinking that he was intent on groping her!        

 

A native speaker of the Chiuchow language (also known as Teochew or Chaozhou) who has learnt Cantonese in order to make money faster in the formerly Portugese-ruled but long-time predominantly Cantonese-speaking enclave, Lena is originally from Mainland China.  And although she is in Macau legally, it's illegal for her to work two jobs; hence her trying to steer clear of getting noticed and questioned by the cops.  But while she states more than once in the film that she is really only in Macau to make money, planning to return home (and reunite with her young daughter, who is being taken of in the meantime by Lena's mother) as soon as she's made enough to open a restaurant there, the sense is that, after she embarks on a relationship with Mada, she starts to consider that maybe she could make a real life for herself and her daughter with him in Macau.     

 

As we go further into Madalena though, it comes to light that both Mada and Lena have had past relationships which not only inflicted trauma on them but are capable of negatively affecting their perspectives on life along with perceptions of others.  And while Mada initially looks like the more tortured and lost soul, Lena it is who may well have the bigger problems that get in her way of her escaping her past and having a second a chance at having a good life. 

 

It is very much to Chrissie Chau's credit that she makes her character not only sympathetic but one whose thinking process is thoroughly understandable -- so much so that, at times, it can feel like the audience can actually see her thought process as her brain clicks into gear.  Meanwhile, Louis Cheung's greatest accomplishment may have been to uglify himself and make himself look so utterly ordinary and middle-aged in the film that you would never think that, in real life, he's an entertainer who not only acts but also sings and is a songwriter!  And while neither Chau nor Cheung are among the A-list of Hong Kong cinema, they often display more acting chops than many a Hong Kong movie superstar -- including in Madalena. 

All in all, I found Madalena to be an involving watch that's quite a bit better than one might expect of a film with a debutante director at its helm and thus a real credit to Emily Chan for having made it.  Speaking of credits: coming as it did on the day that Hong Kong passed a film censorship law that doesn't bode well for Hong Kong cinema, it was a bit of a jolt to see the Macau Liason Office as well as police force being thanked in the movie's end credits.  In truth, I wouldn't say that this dramatic offering painted all that positive an image of Mainland China as well as Macau.  So I guess it holds out some hope that movies that aren't propaganda works can continue be made in both the Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China for some time to come.   

My rating for this film: 7.0

The suspension of the BioNTech vaccine in Hong Kong fuels distrust in the government as well as puts a damper on the territory's vaccination program

This vaccination center (for the Sinovac vaccine) is still 

administering vaccines for those who want them

 

However, this vaccination center's operations (involving the 

administering of BioNTech vaccines) has been (temporarily) suspended!

 

RTHK program producer Bao Choi went on trial this morning for her reporting of the attacks by white shirted individuals on MTR passengers on the evening of July 21st, 2019.  And later in the day, we saw Shenzhen returnee Andy Li charged with the national security law offence of "colluding with foreign forces".    

 

It could be said to be a measure of how "everyday" political persecution in Hong Kong has become though in that neither was considered to be the biggest news of the day.  Rather, what caused the territory to be all abuzz for much of todayy was the news of the suspension of the administering of the BioNTech vaccine in Hong Kong and Macau over packaging flaws.  

What seems to have been behind this is that the authorities received a written notice from the vaccine’s Hong Kong and Macau supplier, Chinese company Fosun, saying that a batch – numbered 210102 – had defective lids. The issue posed no safety risk to the public, a government press release cited Fosun as saying  But both the Hong Kong and Macau governments decided to temporarily suspend the administering of the BioNTech vaccine anyway, to be super safe.

While the exercising of caution is to be admired to some extent, one can't help but wonder whether they would have done the same if the vaccine concerned had been the Sinovac (which, for the record, has yet to be approved for use by such as the World Health Organization).  Put another way: there is a strong sense in Hong Kong that "politics and pleasing the mainland [has become] more important than public health".  

 

The following is the reality: People in Hong Kong have seen too much over the years to fully trust that the government truly cares about their welfare and health.  Even setting aside overtly political issues and street clashes involving the usage of over 16,000 cannisters of tear gas against the local populace over the course of just a few months, there have been too many derelictions of duty (as well as Mainland Chinese health and food scandals) that have left a psychological scar on people here.  

 

Also, why -- if the medical decisions are not affected by politics -- is it that the BioNTech vaccinations have been (temporarily) suspended despite those vials of the vaccine suspected to having been damaged having been disposed of before use and everyone who took the BioNTech vaccinations appearing to be safe but the Sinotec vaccinations have not despite at least seven deaths being associated with those who have been administered them?!  To be sure, a panel of experts have concluded today that the deaths in Hong Kong of people who have had vaccines for the Wuhan coronavirus were *probably* not linked to the vaccines.  But even so, right?

 

This I know: these shennanigans are hardly going to convince those on the "wait and see" fence -- of which there are many in Hong Kong -- that they should feel super confident about Hong Kong's coronavirus vaccine program.  Ironically enough, it appears that the majority of those who already have taken the BioNTech vaccine also aren't all that concerned about their physical safety and, if anything, are taking comfort in knowing that a few weeks' delay of their taking the second shot of the vaccine won't unduly affect its efficacy.     

Something else that helps puts people's minds at ease as far as the Wuhan coronavirus in Hong Kong is concerned is that Hong Kong is back to single digits for new daily local infections: with just 4 recorded today.  I wish I could offer up similar promising news about the overall situation in Hong Kong.  Instead, I can only report that Hong Kongers are generally not feeling positive with regards to Hong Kong post the implementation of China's security law in this territory, and justifiably so. :(  

Pandemic and political musings on the 15th day of Chinese New Year for the second year in a row

 

 May everyone be energetic as dragon horse deer

in the year of the ox/cow!

 

Today is the 15th day of the lunar new year.  Long before the celebrations of the new Chinese year of the ox/cow draw to a close (on Chap Goh Meh) though, the Communist Chinese government and its Hong Kong acolytes have already given those of us hoping for a better year -- or plain tomorrow -- for Hong Kong plenty to worry and be upset about.  Put another way: I wish I could be confident that the year of the ox/cow will be better than that of the rat was; but, alas, I'm not.     

 

As with last year, the 15th day of Chinese New Year sees the Wuhan coronavirus and political oppression preying on my mind.  With regards to the former: Hong Kong's fourth coronavirus wave is looking to have a very long tail and now accounts for more than 50 percent of the territory's total number of 10,951 coronavirus cases.  Today's total number of new cases is 24; with a restaurant cluster having been detected and suspected to have been caused by a cleaner there carrying on working despite developing a cough and fever, and ending up being a super spreader.   

 

As a general aside: it has long bugged me that there are people who will go to work despite obviously being unwell and infectious (be it with a cold, flu or worse).  And my feelings about people who go and socialize even while possessing symptoms associated with the coronavirus are unprintable.  Ditto those who decided to stop wearing masks (period or "just" properly) -- despite a mask wearing protocol being in place -- because they see the number of daily new cases going down.  (I've seen more people doing that this week than combined for the entire months of December and January.) 

 

And while Hong Kong's vaccination program has finally begun, the only vaccines available are questionable Sinovac ones since the arrival of the BioNTech vaccines (which have far greater efficacy than the Sinovac ones) has been delayed.  Hopefully, it won't be a permanent delay -- and there will be enough of the BioNTech for everyone for whom it will be their choice of vaccine; which probably will be a lot of people, especially after it is more widely realized that the so-called Fosun-BioNTech vaccine is actually the same as the much heralded Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine!     

 

In any case, as has been so for a good part of the lunar year of the rat, greater political clouds than pandemic ones have been darkening my mood as well as loom on the horizon.  Earlier today, United Nations human rights chief Michelle Bachelet stated her concerns that China is restricting basic civil and political freedoms – including in Hong Kong – in the name of national security and Covid-19 measures.  This follows her decrying Hong Kong's rapidly shrinking civic and democratic space in December last year.

 

But until political leaders like her actually do more than "state their concerns" and "decry" what is happening in Hong Kong (along with the likes of Xinjiang), the fact of the matter is that the Communist Chinese regime and the government it put in place in Hong Kong are going to keep doing what they are doing -- including destroying the Hong Kong many of us knew and love.  And then there are the multinationals that feel that they "cannot afford to ignore the Chinese market if they want a better growth prospect" and are enabling China (far more, really, than it is enabling them).  

 

It is truly very painful for those of us who love Hong Kong, democracy and freedom to see what it is happening in our beloved city.  The "unauthorized assembly" trial involving Martin Lee, Margaret Ng, Jimmy Lai and six other veteran pro-democracy figures is not going well, according to a friend who has been in attendance every since it began back on February 16th.  (And the signs that a campaign is being mounted to plead for (clemency for) Martin Lee in the international media point to the expectation that guilty verdicts will be pronounced for him and his fellow defendants.)     

 

And even as this high profile trial drags on in court, there are signs that the authorities are getting ready to re-arrest other pro-democracy personalities and possibly not let them out on bail this time around.  More specifically, the 55 democratic politicians and activists arrested in January under the security law but then not charged have been told to report back to the police this Sunday, five weeks earlier than scheduled, and the fear is that this time, they will be charged and immediately put behind bars.   

Speaking of fear: Hong Kong Baptist University announced today that it has cancelled a press photography exhibition which included images of the Hong Kong protests, days before it was expected to launch -- citing concerns about campus safety and security, and pandemic control.  Considering that they had allowed a fashion show, featuring actual humans parading about, just a few days ago, their official reasons for cancelling the exhibition ring hollow.  Rather, it is far more likely that the Hong Kong university is following in the footsteps of the government-run Association Casa de Portugal Macao (Macau Foundation) -- who cancelled the same exhibition last October-- in running scared of upsetting Beijing.       

More on the subject of fear, this time seemingly emanating from "the other side": why does HK$8 billion (~US$1.0317 billion) need to set aside by the Hong Kong government for "safeguarding national security": this is on top of the additionally HK$25 billion (~US$3.224 billion) for the coming year set aside for "maintaining law and order" by the Hong Kong police: a 7.7 percent budget boost in the coming financial year -- year after its budget ballooned by 25 percent the year before?   

 

Some responses to reportage re this over on Twitter: "Must be an exceptionally dangerous place, Hong Kong.  Funny, because it seemed so safe when I was there"; "What kind of regimes spends this much money fighting against their own people?"; and "Nothing says "Hong Kong is a part of China" more than a government who's setting $8 BILLION aside for "national security expenses", in a city where people make up their own minds to voluntarily protest in the streets. Know how many hospitals and houses 8 billion can construct?"

 

Oh, and belated Happy Chinese New Year greetings to this blog's readers, and Kung Hei Fatt Choi!

Hong Kong's Wuhan coronavirus records broken twice in the past two days, and medical experts make clear who's to blame!

Voluntary masking (for the most part) 

on the Star Ferry back in January

 Mandatory masking and social distancing 

on the Star Ferry this July

Hong Kong's daily Wuhan coronavirus case tally hit a record high of 113 yesterday.  As if that was not bad enough, the daily number of confirmed cases exceeded that number today by five -- making for a new record high of 118 cases, with additional bad news coming by way of the territory recording its 15th fatality from the coronavirus to date earlier today.  

I realize that there are people in other, way harder hit parts of the world (like the USA or Brazil) who would celebrate if their country had Hong Kong's Wuhan coronavirus numbers.  But it needs to be borne in mind that it took Hong Kong just 56 days to double its coronavirus case numbers from 1,066 to 2,132 (as of yesterday).  Also, while the territory had its first coronavirus fatality in early February, and lost four more people to the coronavirus between then and early part of July, it now has had a further eight coronavirus fatalities in the past 11 days.  In other words: This past few weeks have been a disaster relative to the previous months with regards to the coronavirus' impact on Hong Kong.

So it's only to be expected, then, that anti-Wuhan coronavirus measures have been further stepped up; with face masks now being mandatory in all indoor public spaces (including malls and building lobbies) as well as on public transportation.  Ironically, this makes it so that Hong Kong both has regulations mandating the wearing of masks as well as making the wearing of masks in public illegal (with the legal challenge to the latter still ongoing!)!

Although there is some joy to be had from seeing Carrie Lam effectively doing a big u-turn with regards to mask wearing, there also is a sense that all this mask talk is an attempt to, well, mask the real problems. After all, it's not like the vast majority of Hong Kongers haven't already been wearing masks when venturing out of their homes.  

Rather, it's widely believed that Hong Kong's third Wuhan coronavirus wave came about by way of further government mis-steps: namely, "a cavalcade of quarantine exceptions granted by the city's government". (And making things worse it its strange decisions as to what constituted "high risk" places for coronavirus infections; with the likes of the USA, Brazil and UK not being considered to be such even while such as Indonesia, the Philippines and India justifiably are).

 

There therefore have been calls to further tighten the SAR's border controls and make it so that far fewer people are allowed into Hong Kong without being tested for the coronavirus or going through quarantine than the 200,000 or so that freely entered the territory between February and June thanks to their falling into the 33 categories of persons exempted from doing so.  And those demands surely will only become louder after Dr Gabriel Leung, dean of the faculty of medicine at the University of Hong Kong, stated for the record today that new analysis of recent coronavirus samples suggests that the current wave of infections was brought in from outside of Hong Kong, most likely by people exempted from mandatory quarantine.

Should it not be clear: This medical expert's statement goes against the Hong Kong government's position that the exemptions did not trigger the recent surge in infections.  And further signs that medical experts are dissatisfied with how the Hong Kong government is (mis)handling the pandemic came about at the Hong Kong Medical Association press conference this afternoon, when the association's president, Dr Gabriel Choi Kin, ascribed Hong Kong's inability to carry out as many coronavirus tests daily as Singapore (20,000) or Macau (11,000) to its having a different head of government from them (with the clear implication being that he's talking about a qualitative difference between Hong Kong's and the two other territories!). 

More than by the way, Dr Choi seems to be quite the interesting fellow.  Among other things, he's both a past as well as current president of the Hong Kong Medical Association -- which would make him a real sucker for punishment as well as popular among, and respected by, his peers.  The good doctor also has a track record for being rather cheeky.  Exhibit A from earlier this year: the hand gestures he made when posing for photos at a previous Hong Kong Medical Association press conference.  Exhibit B, also from earlier this year: his having suggested that the People's Liberation Army bases in Hong Kong -- and/or the premises of the old Central Hotel, close to the Chief Executive's residence -- be used as quarantine facilities for coronavirus cases! :D

Measures to cope with the Wuhan coronavirus' "second wave" -- but what of its "third wave" and more?

Signs in multiple languages detailing the maximum-four-people 

gathering rule and other measures posted at Victoria Park

 

  Enjoying the afternoon sun without gathering in

a group larger than four at Victoria Park's Central Lawn

 

The past week or so has seen a steadying, even downward trend, in the number of new Wuhan coronavirus cases reported daily for Hong Kong.  So, hopefully, the "second wave" that was largely the result of a number of infected residents returning from abroad -- where many of them had gone to escape the first wave of the Wuhan coronavirus onslaught -- has subsided to some extent.

 

Still, Hong Kong is not taking any chances, especially ahead of the upcoming long Easter holiday weekend; this not least since the total number of confirmed cases for the territory is now up to 960, with 25 new cases reported today.  Consequently, even while the likes of me do rue the extension of the period during which cinemas will be closed along with other entertainment outlets,  I, for one, am not complaining too much about this decision;  especially since the rulings now also have been extended to beauty salons and massage parlours (which, to my mind, should have been closed earlier than cinemas -- since them, the main activities that take place in those other facilities require one party going mask-less in the case of beauty salons and results in a lot of sweat being shed in the case of massage parlours!).

 

Another government measure that's actually welcomed by the majority of people in Hong Kong involves the two-week border shutdown that was due to end on Tuesday now having been extended indefinitely.  Actually, if people had their say, they'd make the measure stricter by also barring travellers from Mainland China  (which has had 81,802 reported cases of infection as of today, according to worldometer) entirely rather than just requiring them -- along with those arriving from Macau (45 confirmed cases in total) and Taiwan (379 total confirmed cases) -- to spend 14 days in compulsory quarantine.  

 

Should it not be clear, there are fears that there will be a third wave of Wuhan coronavirus infections; and that it will come -- like the first wave -- from Mainland China.   And, frankly, pictures of packed crowds of people -- not all of whom are wearing masks -- at the likes of Huangshan in recent days are not assuring people here in Hong Kong that the bulk of the people over in Mainland China have truly learnt the lessons of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic.  

 

Consequently news that thousands have left Wuhan already in the early hours of today after the travel ban there was lifted is filling quite a few people here with fear since we really don't want Wuhan residents flooding into the city (even if it's to inject much-needed cash into the suffering Hong Kong economy).  Equally as unwelcome as the prospect of visitors from Wuhan and other parts of China inundating Hong Kong in the coming weeks is Carrie Lam remaining at the helm of Hong Kong's government. 

 

Okay, so the ridiculously well paid official has announced today that she and her cabinet will take 10 percent pay cuts for the next 12 months.  But that only came after she rejected bipartisan calls for her to turn down the super undeserved pay rise that she's been awarded: one that's increased her annual pay to a whopping HK$5.21 million!

To be sure, she's not the most highly paid head of government in the world.  That honor goes to Singapore's Lee Hsien Loong.  But consider that, among other things, that the Singaporean government is already looking ahead and planning for the food crisis that they anticipate will come about as the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic further progresses.  Put another way: even while not perfect, the Singaporean government does seem to be thinking several steps ahead of Hong Kong's and, also, in ways that are intended to self-guard its people.

 

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong government seems intent on continuing to persecute its people and making a mockery of Hong Kong's once much vaunted rule of law.  In recent days, we've seen such as a politician, already stripped of his Legislative Councillor status on a technicality, being found guilty of assaulting two riot police officers with his loudhailer during a standoff between the police and protesters last July; an accusation and conviction that brings to mind, for many, that of the young woman who was sentenced to three and half months of jail time for having assaulted a police officer with her breast a few years back.   

 

Also consider how absurd it is that even while Hong Kongers are helping the world to realize that face masks can help communities as well as individuals battle the Wuhan coronavirus, the Hong Kong government has been pushing ahead with its appeal to have the face covering ban it brought into effect last October upheld.  About as absurd, really, as the idea that Carrie Lam deserves the salary that she is being paid -- or, for that matter, that she absolutely has a place reserved for her in heaven like she has publicly stated she believes to be the case!

Enjoying the relative calm even while gearing up for an impending political storm

Way fewer yachts and other vessels than I'm generally used 

to seeing in the Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter

 

Not many boats about in Victoria Harbour these days too!

 One reason is that, unlike the outer island ferries, the Macau ferries have 

temporarily halted service because of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak!

 

The past few days have seen the gloomy weather seen last weekend replaced by bluer skies and bright sunshine in Hong Kong.  Rather than go hiking up in the hills once more, however, I've been drawn again to walking along the Victoria Harbourfront; with my opting to strolling from Causeway Bay to Tin Hau one afternoon and from Kennedy Town to Central on another occasion.            

 

While traipsing past the Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter, I felt like something was amiss after seeing way fewer yachts moored in the area than usual.  I'm not sure if it's Wuhan coronavirus outbreak related but I wouldn't be surprised if this was the case; what with there being talk of quite a number of people (especially expats) having decided to leave Hong Kong in recent weeks.  And on my second harborfront walk this week, it was impossible to not notice how less filled with boats Victoria Harbour was -- in large part because there aren't any ferries whizzing by to and from Macau every few minutes like is usually the case.    

Unlike in a number of Mainland Chinese cities (and now also some Italian towns -- with 79 people in that European country having been confirmed to have been infected by the Wuhan coronavirus there and two deaths being attributed to it), Hong Kongers who have not been diagnosed as infected by the Wuhan coronavirus are not confined to their homes -- as yet.  Restaurants, bars, all manner of shops and stores, and even cinemas remain open.  And both urban and country parks remain largely accessible to the public -- some of whom are staying at home a lot more these days than they normally do but others of whom feel it better for their mental as well as physical health to venture out and outdoors.

 

For all the fears of the Wuhan coronavirus spreading in Hong Kong (and spread it has, with Hong Kong's number of confirmed cases of infection having risen to 74 today) though, the addition to the number of Hong Kongers felled by this deadly disease today actually came by way of a Hong Konger having fallen victim to the Wuhan coronavirus over in Hubei province.  Understandably, many -- if not all -- of the remaining Hong Kongers stuck in Hubei province because of the lockdowns in effect there are quite desperate to leave.  And it says a lot about Carrie Lam that her administration does not appear to have made any concrete moves to get the more than 2,500 desperate Hong Kongers -- some of whom are known to have contracted the disease -- back to Hong Kong.         

 

Beyond useless is what some people have concluded Carrie Lam's administration to be.  But wait, it actually could be worse.  After Apple Daily broke the news -- or, for the skeptical, claimed -- that it had obtained a confidential document revealing that the most unpopular Chief Executive Hong Kong has ever had is trying to use the current health crisis to effect a political turnaround, people feel they have concrete cause to conclude that she is venomous (this from Legislative Councillor Claudia Mo), cold-hearted and inhumane (this from human rights activist Benedict Rogers).  

Amidst all this, I think the following Tweet by lawyer-political commentator Kevin Yam is worth quoting in its entirety:- 

A wise observer of #HongKong politics once told me: CY Leung may be more vile, but Carrie Lam is more dangerous - her decades in civil service means that she knows the machinations of government very well, which enables her to do more damage in a more efficient and effective way.

We can but hope that the woman who tried, but failed, to push through a dangerous Extradition Bill will be similarly unsuccessful with regards to her efforts to curry favor some more from Beijing by blaming others for Hong Kong's woes and deflecting criticism from her admistration.  Otherwise, the outlook for the Big Lychee is not going to be as sunny as the recent weather for some time to come.

A mainly Hurricane Signal No. 10 day in Hong Kong (courtesy of Severe Typhoon Mangkhut)

Large pools of water where there shouldn't be

Strong winds did this (including decapitate a couple of garden lamps!)

One of a number of objects that looked to have blown out 

of nearby apartments down several floors

Shortly before I decided to call it a day last night, the No. 8 Gale or Storm Signal was raised by the Hong Kong Observatory.  And when I woke up this morning, it was to find that Hurricane Signal No. 10 (the highest typhoon warning signal used by Hong kong) had been raised despite Super Typhoon Mangkhut having been re-designated as "just" a severe typhoon.

A little more than a couple of hours ago, the T10 signal was replaced with the No. 8 Gale or Storm Signal having been hoisted.  But it's actually still pretty windy and plenty rainy out there, and I won't feel safe enough to venture outdoors or take an elevator until the signal drops to at least T3 (this since there were a number of power surges in my building today and I've read reports of people getting stuck in elevators in various parts of the territory in the past 24 hours or so).  

At the risk of sounding like a scaredy cat, I also must admit to not having felt 100 percent safe in my apartment at various points today.  Among other things, I worried that Severe Typhoon Mangkhut would break the glass on at least some of my windows or even blow the windows out entirely since this particular tropical cyclone was being billed as the strongest on record to hit Hong Kong as well as the strongest typhoon this year.  And it really didn't help that this typhoon's winds sounded at times like that of a jet engine and I was given a good idea of its strength when it decapitated at least a couple of lamps in my building complex's podium garden and sent quite a bit of stuff flying out of windows and down from my very building or ones nearby!

Something else I was shocked to observe was how the water in my toilet bowl actually swirled about at times when the T10 signal was in place and also its turning disconcertingly murky rather than staying clear colored!  Still, I am thankful that -- unlike a few of my friends -- I couldn't feel my building swaying about for much of the day (maybe because my apartment is on a lower floor than theirs!)!   

In addition, I am very grateful indeed that I don't live in a low lying area susceptible to flooding and being pounded by scary looking waves (like not only the old waterfront villages of Tai O and Lei Yue Mun but also the modern housing estate of Heng Fa Chuen).  And left even worse off are Macau, where some 20,000 households have been left without electricity by Mangkhut, and the Philippines, where floods and landslides added to the damage caused by Mangkhut and the death toll has already risen to 64 at the time of writing (and possibly could go up quite a bit higher in the next few days).

In view of how dangerous many of us figured or even knew outright that Mangkhut would be, I'm rather shocked that there were people who thought nothing of going out to waterfronts to get some thrills and others who decided that a T10 typhoon was not enough to stop them going for yum cha with family members and/or friends!  In all honesty, until a friend told me she was out having dim sum with her parents this morning, I didn't realize that there were any restaurants that would be open when a signal higher than T8 had been raised!!

For my part, even though I must admit to suffering a bit from cabin fever, I don't regret staying put in my apartment pretty much all day today.  And for the record: I will state that Severe Typhoon Mangkhut really has felt far more powerful -- and scary -- than the two previous T10-strength typhoons (Hato last year, and Vicente in 2012) whose Hong Kong visits I've been around to experience; and it really is a scary thought indeed that, as a result of climate change, the world may soon see hurricanes or typhoons that are even stronger than the category 5 Mangkhut. :(