Another cold and high Covid numbers February day in Hong Kong

One of a number of Covid vaccination centers in Hong Kong (I know 

it says Sport Centre but it's function has been temporarily changed)

After the number fell to 3,629 cases yesterday, Hong Kong had another day of reporting over 6,000 new Covid cases today, with today's 6,063 bringing the total number of cases that the territory's seen thus far up to 46,763.  And the total number of Covid deaths reported today (21) is only exceeded by this past Thursday's in being the highest number recorded to date.  

Also released this afternoon was the information that of all bar six of the first 46 deaths in Hong Kong's fifth Coronavirus wave involved unvaccinated individuals.  Which gets one wondering why the Hong Kong government, even now, doesn't seem to be pushing vaccination all that hard and the media is not disseminating this kind of information more.

 

Speaking of the provision of relevant information about vaccines and the Wuhan coronavirus in general: many people in Hong Kong are finding themselves wishing that the Hong Kong government could emulate Singapore's and produce clearer and more helpful information on official websites and such.  But I suppose this would mean the Hong Kong government getting its priorities straight and, well, what hope is there when, rather than acknowledging that they have played a significant part in causing -- or at least, exacerbating -- this fifth wave, they keep on looking to pin the blame on others, notably foreign domestic workers (the majority of whom hail from the Philippines and Indonesia).   

 

After it transpired that all 17 tickets handed out by the police last Sunday for breaches of the "2 person gathering limit" were to foreign domestic workers (whose monthly salary is about the same as the sum of the fine), Hong Kongers set up a fund to help them which raised over HK$78,000 in a matter of days.  But good news turned into bad after Secretary for Labour and Welfare Law Chi-kwong announced that he was "not sure if [the] crowdfunding to help pay [foreign domestic workers'] fines is "trying to help people with good intentions", or maliciously undermining the entire epidemic prevention work" and he was "[s]eeking advice on whether legal action can be taken to stop [the fundraising effors]"; and took a turn for the worse when the spooked fund organizers (which had ended up raising over HK$107,000) decided to stop their fundraising efforts and return all the donations to the donors. 

 

As Antony Dapiran was moved to sarcastically observe: "Surprised they're not saying it undermines national security..."  To which, another member of the Hong Kong Twitterverse replied: "Just wait. Wonder if they will try to take away the funds raised to help those made homeless, too. Wouldn't put it past them."  (Re the homeless in Hong Kong: terrible but true -- some awful people have actually ejected their domestic workers who tested positive for the coronavirus!  And yes, some other Hong Kongers have sought to help these foreign domestic workers now reduced to sleeping outdoors out.) 

 

Speaking of people sleeping outdoors: at least most of the hospital patients reduced to sleeping (or just waiting for treatment, for that matter) outdoors have been moved indoors as of today in Hong Kong.  And about time too, since it's now on the distinctly chilly side -- and will be for the next few days -- as a cold front sweeps in.  Thank goodness for small mercies?  Only, this is Hong Kong and, truly, such a situation should not have come about in the first place!   

 

The opening sentences from a Reuters article today is worth reading and pondering: "Hong Kong until recently had an enviable record battling Covid-19, but as an Omicron wave now overwhelms the city, the steps that saved lives are making life unbearable for many of its 7.4 million people. Like an immune system overreacting and harming the person it is meant to protect, the "dynamic zero-Covid" policies that had crushed the virus in Hong Kong have contributed to current woes, experts say" (my emphasis).  And consider how battered Hong Kongers are when this overreacting and now harmful immune system analogy is one "that also applies to the city’s “national security” policy."