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Quarantine rooms for domestic helpers snapped up in minutes

The booking system for foreign domestic helpers at Penny’s Bay Quarantine Centre on Lantau Island reopens today, following a halt since Sept. 19. The 1,000 rooms on offer were fully booked up in minutes.  Reservations for Oct. 22 to 28 provide 350 quotas for foreign domestic helpers to undergo quarantine. Phailin Leesirichaikul, a Thai missionary living in Hong Kong said that by the time she had gone through a series of steps to get to the booking page, all the quotas had already been taken. “Within three to five minutes after the system opened up, all of the rooms were fully booked, which made me anxious because the visa of my Indonesian helper is about to expire, but I cannot book a quarantine room for her,” she said. In order to arrange foreign domestic helpers to come to Hong Kong in a gradual and orderly manner and to guard against imported Covid-19 cases, Penny’s Bay Quarantine Centre will continue to receive at most 50 helpers each day, according to a government press release.  The centre will provide an additional 200 units from Oct. 22, that’s a total of 1,000 units for inbound foreign domestic workers. Employers and employment agencies can make bookings from 9 a.m every Monday for the following week. According to government figures, as of Oct. 1, among the 6,060 Filipino foreign domestic helpers who arrived in Hong Kong between Aug. 30 and Sept. 24, there were 26 confirmed Covid cases. That’s a rate of 4.3%.  Law Chi-kwong, Secretary for Labour and Welfare, said in his blog post yesterday that such a rate should be taken seriously.  “On a daily basis, we will check the epidemic situation of foreign domestic helpers in their countries of origin, the diagnosis of workers upon arrival, and the operation and booking of …

Society

China's online fitness boom amid the pandemic

As the coronavirus lingers across the world, people are finding ways to keep fit despite being stuck at home. All over China, downloading fitness apps and videos has become a trend. Here’s Kate Zhang to tell us more.

Health & Environment

Online shopping creates excessive packaging waste, Green Sense says

Online shopping over the past year is estimated to have produced around 800 million pieces of packaging waste in Hong Kong, according to a local environmental protection group, Green Sense. On average, 2.32 pieces and 2.71 kinds of wrappers were used for each item, with some using up to nine kinds of packaging materials, such as cartons, sticky tapes, bubble wrap, and craft paper, Green Sense has found. Ma Ka-po, senior project officer of Green Sense, said at a news conference today that too many kinds of packing materials make it hard for consumers to figure out which ones can be recycled.   Excessive use of sticky tapes, she pointed out, is a common problem. “The tapes are usually used to secure the flaps of cartons, but we found some cartons with sticky tapes all over them, even covering unnecessary parts,” Ms. Ma said.   Of 209 people Green Sense interviewed this year, only 35% thought that Hong Kong has a serious or very serious problem of excess packaging. Last year, 51% said it was a problem. The research also found that only about 46% of the interviewees would recycle packaging materials such as paper and cartons, after receiving the package, but 43% of them would simply throw them away. He Songlan, a university student, shops online three or four times a week, but she doesn’t see packaging waste as a problem. “When I buy clothes online, there may be one or two plastic bags and bubble wraps in the package, and when I buy snacks, there may be one carton and some plastic bags,” she said. She admitted though that the delivery companies may add a lot of packaging. “But it is acceptable for me,” she added. Kor Mi-jing, a student who shops online occasionally, tends to keep the …

Society

Cooking During the Pandemic

COVID-19 has not gone away, social distancing measures remain in place. Some people are finding new ways to share food with their friends. Bruce Zhao and Nick Yang report on how some people have taken up cooking as a new hobby.

Society

New non-invasive colorectal cancer test may lower the cost and risk of detection

  Researchers at the Chinese University of Hong Kong have identified four unique bacterial genetic sequences found in the faeces of patients with colorectal cancer. By testing for these markers, known as M3, the scientists have developed a new non-invasive test that can detect colorectal cancer with up to 94% accuracy.   The CUHK team used the M3 test on more than 1100 cancer subjects. Patients were asked to swab their faecal samples at home. The swabs were then stored in plastic vials and sent to the laboratory for analysis. The results were available in four hours.   Based on a risk scale, doctors can then use the results to predict the likelihood of the patient developing cancer, and offer dietary recommendations to reduce the risk.   Patients with high risks may then be asked to have a colonoscopy to look for cancer cells and polyps.   The M3 test can also be used to detect recurrent polyps which may develop into cancer. The scientists used the M3 test on more than 200 patients who have had polyps removed within five years. The M3 test can detect the polyps with up to 90% sensitivity.   Compared with current tests for colorectal cancer, the M3 test is more sensitive than a faecal immunochemical test and less invasive than colonoscopy. Patients do not need to prepare the bowels for testing and there is no risk of rupturing the bowels or gastrointestinal bleeding. The cost is also much less than colonoscopy since patients can collect the samples themselves.   “We are cautiously optimistic about the popularisation of the M3 test,” said Prof Francis Chan Ka-leung, Dean of Medicine and Director of the Centre for Gut Microbiota Research at CU Medicine.   “The cost for the M3 test is subject to different needs of …

Society

Hong Kong Government Land Confiscation Scheme Forces Closure of Popular Farmers Market at Mapopo Community Farm

  After more than a decade in operation, Mapopo Community Farm held its last farmers market on Sunday before permanently closing due to the Hong Kong government’s Land Resumption Ordinance.    The farmers market sells locally produced vegetables, mainly from the northeastern part of Hong Kong’s New Territories, including Ping Che (Fanling), Tsiu King (Sheung Shui) and Kwu Tong (Sheung Shui).    At two in the afternoon, about 15 people lined up outside Mapopo Community Farm to snatch up locally grown fruit and vegetables, including winter melons, pumpkins, longan and dragon fruits. Most products were sold out within the first hour.    Chatting and laughing during their visit to the market, customers filled shopping bags with green vegetables and fruits. Some visitors brought their pets and kids to the market, to witness the decline of Hong Kong local agriculture. People expressed gratitude to the farmers by leaving messages and colorful drawings in the farmer markets’ autograph book.    “The villagers are exhausted fighting for their lands,” said 26-year-old Ms. Wong, who withheld her first name. She said she has heard of the land resumption scheme since she was a student.     The scheme, officially announced in 1998, allowed the government to claim the land for residential purposes, in order to handle the growing population in Hong Kong.    Farmlands in Kwu Tong North, Fanling North and Ping Che/Ta Ku Ling have been identified by the Hong Kong government to be new development areas.The rural areas in northeast New Territories will be used for commercial and residential land.    However, the development plan was rejected by the farmers. They worried that the residential and commercial land development would reduce the amount of farmland, thus deteriorating the farmer’s livelihood.    Following several legal challenges by residents of Ma Shi Po Village, …

Health & Environment

Hong Kong to ban plastic tableware at restaurants from 2025

The Hong Kong government planned to ban all types of disposable plastic tableware at restaurants from 2025, according to an announcement made on Friday. The city’s Environment Protection Department, which is seeking public opinion on the proposal during the next two months, said parts of plastic cutlery often packaged in take-away services would also be banned.  A consultation paper, released by the government on Friday, proposed to ban the local sale of disposable expanded polystyrene (EPS) utensils and discontinue their use at restaurants within four years. Wong Kam-sing, Secretary for the Environment of the HKSAR Government, wrote in the consultation paper that, “ practising ‘plastic-free’ at the source is the most fundamental way to achieve ‘waste free seas’.”  “Countless waste plastics enter the natural environment, including the ocean, each year,” he wrote in the document. “They will eventually be fragmented into microplastics and enter the human food chain.”  The department also suggested regulating the use of non-EPS plastic tableware for dine-in and take-away services in phases.  The first stage was to ban all types of disposable tableware offered to dine-in customers at restaurants, with disposable cutlery, such as straws, knives and forks, banned in take-away food and beverage services. Take-away services would be regulated the same as dine-in services in the second stage, according to the statement. Chung Wai-yi, the owner of a ramen restaurant, said they were using recyclable plastic chopsticks and plastic food containers for take-away services.   She supported the ban on disposable plastic tableware.  “I always support the environmentally friendly promotion in Hong Kong, but this time, I hope the government can make it a reality rather than just talking,” she said.  She expected the government to make laws and regulations on plastic use in the catering industry to ensure fair competition, and also find good substitutes …

Health & Environment

Hong Kong’s first Chinese medicine hospital to provide training for local students

        Construction of Hong Kong’s first Chinese Medicine Hospital is expected to start in Tseung Kwan O in a couple of days. Speaking at a launch ceremony today, Secretary for Food and Health, Sophia Chan Siu-chee described it as a milestone in the development of traditional Chinese medicine in the city.    Dr. Cheung Wai-lun, project director of the Chinese Medicine Hospital, said the facilities will include around 400 beds, 70 diagnostic rooms and 45 treatment rooms. The new hospital is expected to serve about 310,000 outpatients every year.    “About 200 Chinese medicine practitioners will participate in training and research at the Chinese Medicine Hospital,” Dr. Cheung said. The hospital will also recruit both full-time and part-time traditional Chinese medicine workers.   The hospital will be run by Hong Kong Baptist University under a private-public partnership arrangement and about 65% of the services will be government-funded.   At the moment, traditional Chinese medicine students in Hong Kong have to go to the mainland for their internships. But once the new hospital comes into operation, a third of the students from three local universities can do their internships in Hong Kong initially.   The hospital will come into service in phases from 2025 and eventually up to half of the local students can be trained there.   Professor Alexander Wai Ping-kong, president of Hong Kong Baptist University said the Chinese Medicine Hospital will hire Chineses medicine practitioners from Hong Kong, the mainland and other countries.   Yao Yuzhen, a mainland student studying Chinese medicine at Hong Kong Baptist University, hoped the new hospital will make it more convenient to conduct scientific research.   “Hong Kong does not have any inpatient department in traditional Chinese medicine right now,   so there can only be limited use of some …

Health & Environment

Walk-in COVID-19 jabs for elderly please, say doctors

      The Hong Kong College of Physicians is calling on the government to allow people aged over 60 years to be vaccinated against COVID-19 without having to make an online booking. Speaking at a press conference today, HKCP president Professor Li Kam-tao said many elderly people have difficulties accessing the online booking system. He also called on the government to do more to eliminate elderly people’s misunderstandings about the side effects of vaccination. The college made the calls after a survey it commissioned found that only 5% of the elderly aged between 70 and 79 in Hong Kong have been vaccinated, and the figure for those aged over 80 is just 1%.  “The vaccination rate (of Hong Kong’s elderly) is among the lowest in the world,” said Dr. Tsang Tak-yin, chairman of the HKCP’s infection and infectious diseases committee. Dr. Chan Tak-yeung, secretary of the college’s geriatrics committee, said many elderly people, particularly those with chronic conditions such as diabetes or heart problems, were worried about the safety and side effects of the COVID-19 vaccines. Chan Yuk-yin, 65, who has rheumatoid and vascular diseases, told The Young Reporter in a phone interview that she had reservations about being vaccinated as she was worried about her body’s possible adverse reactions to the vaccines. Chung Yuk-ching, 62, said she would not get vaccinated because of worries about the side effects and doubts about the efficacy of the vaccines.  “Vaccination cannot protect me permanently; it would be a problem for me to get vaccinated every year,” she said.  However, Dr. Chan said studies have shown that vaccinated elderly people are less likely to suffer pain at the injection site and fever than younger people, and the side effects are usually mild. The saying that elderly people with chronic diseases cannot be …

Health & Environment

China ministry: Taishan nuclear plant running safely, stably

The Taishan nuclear power plant in Guangdong Province has been operating safely and stably, and no abnormality in the surrounding environment has been observed, China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment said in a statement released today.   According to CNN on Monday, the US government assessed a report of a leak at the Taishan nuclear plant and that China’s nuclear safety authority was raising the acceptable limits for radiation detection outside the power plant.   The statement from the ministry said China’s National Nuclear Safety Administration did not raise the acceptable limits for radiation detection outside, and it claimed CNN’s report was misleading.    Under scrutiny was the increase of the coolant in the primary circuit reactor of plant number one during the unit’s operation. The ministry said this activity was still within the range for stable running as regulated by the technical standard of the nuclear power plant operation.   It was estimated that five fuel rod claddings were damaged. This is less than 0.01% of the total fuel rods and much lower than the maximum assumed damages in the design of the fuel assembly, the ministry added.   After attending the Legislative Council meeting today, Hong Kong’s Secretary for Security John Lee Ka-chiu told reporters that the operation of the Taishan nuclear plant is within all the requirements regarding nuclear power safety and of no indication of any effect on the environment.    Mr. Lee added that the release of information about the Taishan nuclear plant operation will be in accordance with international standards.    “So far, what we have been informed up to now is (regarding the operation of Taishan Nuclear Power Plant), there were only two incidents which are classified as zero events,” Mr. Lee said. “In other words, they do not affect in any way …