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COVID19

Health & Environment

More than 60,000 sign up for Sinovac jabs

Online registration for Hong Kong’s first round of Covid vaccination began at midnight last night. But the waiting time exceeded 50 minutes soon after the start. By morning, the waiting time was still about 30 minutes. Some of those who tried to sign up complained that they encountered up to 521 errors on the website. Secretary for Innovation and Technology, Alfred Sit Wing-hang said in an interview on RTHK that the demand exceeded the capacity of the government’s registration system, but the glitch was fixed within an hour. By noon, at least 60,000 people had signed up. To register, the system will first ask for an identity card number. The first inoculation is available from 26 February, followed by a second jab 28 days later. Registrants can choose between five Community Vaccination Centres and 18 general out-patient clinics under the Hospital Authority. But by noon, most of the slots had been taken. The earliest available slots are not till the end of next week. Five priority groups can make appointments online to get the vaccine. They include healthcare staff, persons aged 60 years or above, staff of residential care homes, essential public service workers, and personnel involved in cross border transportation. Reservations can be made at www.covidvaccine.gov.hk.Elderly people may bring up to two carers to receive the vaccine at the same time. Only the Sinovac vaccine will be available for the first round. Private clinics participating in the inoculation programme are expected to start providing the jabs by mid-March. On Feb 22 Monday, Hong Kong‘s leader Carrie Lam was the first person to receive China’s Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine in a bid to improve public confidence in the mainland-developed vaccine. The Executive Council on Tuesday passed that starting from Wednesday, social gathering restrictions will be relaxed to allow up to four …

Society

Art exhibition brings Hongkongers’ attention to the unattended cracks in the city

Local artist Yeung Tong-lung showcases his artwork which reminds Hong Kong people of the neglected parts of the city while COVID-19 has won all attention. Presented by Blindspot Gallery, in collaboration with a local independent bookstore -- Art and Culture Outreach, the Daily Practice is a solo art exhibition showing Mr Yeung’s artwork which was completed during 2015 - 2020. Amongst all pieces, Mount Davis, which illustrates the Yangge Dance Incident that happened in June 1950, is the featured artwork. Holding an art exhibition amid the fourth wave, though fewer visitors were expected, they believed that it was the right timing to make it happen. “In the past few months, Hong Kong people have been stressed over the pandemic,” said Wong Man-ying, one of the visitors. “Everyone seems to have their complete focus on getting themselves away from any possibility of being infected. To some extent, we became selfish. But in fact, there are people who really need help.” Although none of the art pieces demonstrates individuals being affected by the pandemic, or any pandemic-related scenes, showing the daily life of the minorities in Hong Kong could give visitors a heads up of the existence of these vulnerable groups, and that they could be suffering at this critical time, said Ms Wong. “It is rare for [Yeung] Tong-lung to hold a solo art exhibition or to display his work in any other exhibitions,” said Wong Cheng-yan, manager of Mr Yeung and gallery manager of Blindspot Gallery.  My Yeung’s last exhibition was in early 2019. Thus, even though the exhibition rolled out as the pandemic was prevailing, a lot of Mr Yeung’s friends and special guests still attended the opening reception.   Daily Practice’s opening reception was held on Jan. 19 at Blindspot Gallery in Wong Chuk Hang. The exhibition period …