The centerpiece of a hotpot meal I had with friends
to mark the start of winter early last year
The table at a hotpot dinner I had with a friend early this year
that will be my last hotpot meal for some time... :S
Small wonder then that I had friends from the U.S.A., Canada, Malaysia and Hong Kong posting about Parasite on Facebook today. At the same time though, my Facebook newsfeed was also full of posts about the Wuhan coronavirus -- which, as of this morning, was reported as having been responsible for 908 recorded deaths and at least 40,314 confirmed infections.
A little less that three weeks after Hong Kong announced that the Wuhan coronavirus had come to the city, the Big Lychee's tally of confirmed cases has climbed up to 38. The number went up significantly today thanks in large part to what was originally reported as nine -- but later amended to ten -- members of the same family having been infected by the coronavirus after sharing a hotpot and barbecue dinner on January 26th (the second day of Chinese New Year). And yes, because of the virus' lengthy incubation period (which medical experts are saying could be as long as 24 hours) and symptoms that can be mistaken for that of the flu or cold, it's taken that long to confirm the infections.
Almost the first reaction of a number of people I know were along the lines of: "That's it, we're not eating hotpot anymore!" So it stands to reason that the shares of Chinese hotpot restaurant chains would fall dramatically in the wake of this news involving a favorite cold weather communal meal for many in this part of the world.
Also definitely noted is that a number of family clusters are getting infected by the deadly coronavirus. Amy Qin (the New York Times' China correspondent) reported on Twitter about a family of three generations she had met outside a hospital in Wuhan:-
The mother and her 2 children were all hooked up to IV drips. Their anger was palpable. Grandma had been waiting 12 days for a bed & in the meantime, the grandfather had died and 3 more family members were infected. “What kind of government is this?” said the mother in a rapid-fire local dialect, her voice carrying across the hospital courtyard. “The news is always talking about how good everything is; they don’t even care about the ordinary people.”I could be wrong but I'm getting the impression that whole swathes of Mainland Chinese people are belatedly realizing that their government isn't what it's made itself out to be. In contrast, the vast majority of Hong Kongers figured that out about Beijing and also Carrie Lam's administration a good while back.
The Coronavirus outbreak: Hong Kong is facing a shortage of masks, toilet paper and leadership headline of a South China Morning Post opinion piece is pretty damning. So too are the administration's actions, including its ridiculous quarantine ruling pertaining to arrivals from Mainland China that came into effect this past Saturday and already has seen two violations: as in two people having gone on the run after flouting the quarantine rules that are intended to contain the [further] spread of the Wuhan coronavirus in Hong Kong.
In the wake of this occurence has come the announcement that the police have been tasked with tracking down those rule violators. I wonder how assiduously the local constabulary will go about performing these duties: that is, will they be as dedicated to doing so as they are to physically harm unarmed protestors or go after armed Triad thugs? If one were to judge based on recent suggestions made by health minister Sophia Chan, it seems that once again, justice will not be truly served in Carrie Lam's Hong Kong. :(
No comments:
Post a Comment