HK tightens quarantine control as 3rd imported case of Omicron detected

By Daisy CL Mandap 

Chan says HK detected the 3 Omicron cases during quarantine

The government has announced stricter quarantine rules for all travelers who will come to Hong Kong from places where there has been community transmission of the Omicron variant.

Secretary for Health Sophia Chan made the announcement at a press conference earlier today, Nov. 29, during which she also reported the third case of Omicron infection being found in a 37-year-old man from Nigeria whose case was announced yesterday.

Prof Chan was quick to add that all three cases were imported, and no local transmission had occurred.

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“Three cases were detected in Hong Kong and all of them were detected during quarantine, and none of them entered the community,” she said.

But amid concerns that Omicron might be highly transmissible and could evade vaccines, the government will require all travelers arriving from countries with local transmission of the variant to stay for seven days at Penny’s Bay Quarantine Centre where they will be tested everyday.

If they test negative during that stay, they will be allowed to spend the rest of their 14-day quarantine at a designated hotel.

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The new restrictions will also continue to apply to those arriving from eight southern African countries. Two of these countries, South Africa and Botswana, were the first to report cases of the highly feared new variant.

Heath officials announce stricter quarantine rules to stop Omicron entering the city  

The controller of the Centre for Health Protection, Dr Edwin Tsui, said he expects more places to be added to the list, including some European countries where Omicron has been detected.

"We hope to balance the risk between Penny's Bay and designated quarantine hotels so that we can pick up the majority of the cases in the first seven days of quarantine in Penny's Bay,” Tsui said.

HP’s Dr Chuang Shuk-wan said the man from Nigeria had flown into Hong Kong on Nov 24 via Ethiopia, and tested negative on arrival at the airport.

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But on his third day at a designated quarantine hotel he tested positive for coronavirus with the N501Y mutant strain. Genomic sequencing showed this to belong to the Omicron variant.

Chuang said the man had a Ct value of 27 to 29, which further went down to 20 upon his admission to hospital, indicating a recent infection outside Hong Kong.

She also reported on three new imported cases, two of whom had to be moved to Penny’s Bay after they were tagged as close contacts of patients who were infected earlier.

These are a 73-year-old man who had come from India and felt unwell on his fifth day at PBQC and a 69-year-old woman from Canada who was asymptomatic.

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The third confirmed case involves a 42-year-old male flight attendant who came from Finland via Singapore and tested positive on his arrival test in Hong Kong.

All three patients have been fully vaccinated, and carried the L452R mutant strain of the coronavirus.

They took Hong Kong’s total Covid-19 tally to 12,430 confirmed cases.

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According to Chuang, a total of 578 patients  in Hong Kong were found to have the L452R mutant strain, and of these 351 had the Delta variant.

She said fewer than 10 preliminary positive cases were reported today.

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Filipina used fakes to conceal theft of employer’s jewelry worth $35k

By Vir B. Lumicao 

A gold ring and a bracelet stolen by the helper could no longer be recovered

A 52-year-old Filipina domestic helper was jailed four months today, Nov 29, after she admitted to stealing $35,000 worth of gold ornaments from her female employer over nearly two years, and replacing them with fake look-alike items.

The defendant, Evangelina D. Rodas, admitted before Shatin Magistrate Jason Wan that she stole the items, and said it was because she needed money for the medication of her son, who was infected with Covid-19.

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But the magistrate said the offense Rodas committed was very serious breach of trust, as it was made worse by her replacing the stolen property with fake jewelry to try and hide the crime.

The stolen items were two pairs of earrings valued at $1,000 per pair, one gold ring valued at $3,000, one gold necklace valued at $20,000 and one gold bracelet, valued at $10,000. The ring and the bracelet were not recovered.

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The prosecution said the theft happened between November 2019 and Oct 28 this year in the employer’s house in Fai Shing House, May Shing Court, Tai Wai, Shatin.

Employer Kung Pui-ying, a bank manager, was reportedly organizing the master bedroom around 2pm on Oct 28 when she discovered that the accessories were missing from the unlocked drawer where she had placed them.

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Instead, she found in the drawer fake jewelry pieces that were different in texture and material from the missing ones, although their designs were slightly similar. The employer reported the case.

Police searched the house and found four pawnshop receipts in the pocket of a brown jacket belonging to Rodas. The helper was promptly arrested and held without bail.

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The prosecutor said not all of the pieces of jewelry  were recovered and the employer had to pay the pawnshop to redeem the items.

In mitigation, the defense counsel said his client admitted she had stolen the property out of greed and that she needed money to get her sick son treated.

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He said Kung hired the defendant as a domestic helper through an employment agency in January 2018 to work at the employer’s home. They maintained a fair relationship, the lawyer said.

Magistrate Wan said he had considered the facts of the case and the defense mitigation. He said this was not just an ordinary breach of trust because of the use of fake jewelry to cover up the theft.

He said the appropriate sentence was six months, but the defendant would be a given a one-third discount for her guilty plea.

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Philippines halts plan to allow foreigners in amid Omicron scare

By The SUN 

The Omicron scare put a brake on Manila's plan to start allowing tourists in

The Philippines’ Inter-Agency Task Force against Covid-19 has suspended a plan to reopen the country to foreign travelers amid the threat posed by the new coronavirus variant, Omicron.

The decision was announced by the Bureau of Immigration in a statement released earlier today.

“The IATF deemed it necessary to suspend the entry of foreign tourists, given worldwide concerns over the Omicron variant,” BI Commissioner Jaime Morente in a statement.

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“For now, the current general travel restrictions stand. Only Filipinos, balikbayan, and those with long term visas from green and yellow list countries may be allowed entry,” he added.

His statement came as a former adviser of the National Task Force against Covid-19 echoed a call by Health Secretary Francisco Duque III to include Hong Kong in the list of “red countries” from where travelers will be barred entry.

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Dr Tony Leachon said Hong Kong must be included in the temporary travel ban considering how close it is to the Philippines, and because many Filipino domestic workers here are likely to go home during the Christmas season.

Three imported cases of the Omicron have already been detected in Hong Kong, but authorities say the city’s strict quarantine restrictions have managed to stop its spread in the community.

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Currently, the Philippines has banned all incoming flights from 14 countries, including eight in south Africa, but Hong Kong has been spared.

All travelers from the SAR, as well as other places in the Philippines’ “yellow list,” are allowed to come in as long as they are fully vaccinated and have presented a negative result from an RT-PCR test done within 72 hours of boarding their flight.

Some health experts are pushing for HK to be included in the "red list"

Meanwhile, travelers from the 14 countries designated as “red” or high risk will not be allowed entry, at least until the next review by IATF of its health protocols.

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Apart from the eight South African countries named earlier, seven other places were added to the red list from Nov 28 to Dec 15, and these are Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, and Italy.

“Those coming from red list countries within the last 14 days prior to arrival shall not be allowed to enter the Philippines,” BI’s Morente said.

Only Filipinos who are repatriated from the high-risk countries or are transported on Bayanihan flights will be allowed entry, but subject to strict quarantine protocols.

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The Bureau of Immigration also reminded airlines to carefully inspect the documents of travelers prior to boarding to ensure only those allowed entry may fly to the country, saying it will be implementing strict passport inspection at the airport.

Airlines that fail to follow strict boarding protocols will be fined, said Immigration.

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Philippines bans 7 more places over Omicron - but not HK

By Daisy CL Mandap

The IATF has overruled Duque in getting Hong Kong included in the banned list

The Philippines has added seven more countries to its banned “red list” to contain the spread of the new Omicron variant of Covid-19, but spared Hong Kong.

This is despite yesterday’s recommendation by Health Secretary Francisco Duque III to include Hong Kong in the list, after two imported Omicron cases were reported in the city.

The Inter-Agency Task Force on Covid-19 response added Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, and Italy to the red list, according to a press statement from Cabinet Secretary and acting Presidential Spokesperson Karlo Nograles.

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Already on the red list are South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Eswatini, and Mozambique.

However, travelers from all places in the green list like Hong Kong will no longer be able to enter the Philippines quarantine-free if they are fully vaccinated and were able to present a negative result for a Covid-19 test taken within 72 hours of boarding their flights.

Under the new guidelines issued by the IATF, all inbound travelers from overseas (except arrivals from the red or high-risk places who are banned from entry) will have to comply with the testing and quarantine protocols for “yellow” or moderate risk countries.

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This means, fully vaccinated travelers even with a negative Covid-19 test result will have to stay in a quarantine facility for three days. Those who are unvaccinated, with incomplete doses or without a negative Covid-19 test result, will be in quarantine for five days. 

The IATF also suspended Resolution No. 150-A (Series of 2021) allowing the entry of fully vaccinated nationals of non-visa required countries from green list places like Hong Kong.\

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Nograles said the ban on travelers from red list countries will apply to all persons, regardless of vaccination status, who had been to the high-risk places within 14 days before arriving in the Philippines.

Only Filipinos repatriated from red countries will be allowed in, under strict quarantine rules

Only Filipinos being repatriated to the country or through so-called “bayanihan” flights will be allowed entry subject to the prevailing entry, testing, and quarantine protocols for red list places. 

The ban took effect in the first hours of Sunday. Passengers already in transit and those who have been to the red places within 14 days immediately preceding arrival to the Philippines and who arrive before 12:01 a.m. of November 30 will not be subject to restrictions.

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However, they will undergo 14 days of quarantine in a designated facility and will be tested on day 7.

Passengers who arrived before Nov 28 and have already begun their quarantine based on the classification of their country of origin will be allowed to complete their testing and quarantine protocols.

All passengers who transited through a red country will not be deemed as having come from there if they only stayed at the airport the whole time and did not pass through immigration.

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Omicron, which was initially detected in Botswana but was first reported by South Africa to the World Health Organization on Nov 24, was declared as a “variant of concern” by the international body on Friday.

It has since been detected in Belgium, Israel and Hong Kong.

Earlier, confusion reigned when a spokesperson for the National Task Force Against Covid-19 said in a radio interview that Hong Kong had been included in the list of banned territories.

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But the NTF later clarified that the inclusion of Hong Kong in the red or high-risk places was "not yet final."

"Until a formal announcement from the IATF is made, Hong Kong flights will still be allowed. We apologize for any inconvenience an earlier pronouncement may have caused," said the NTF's statement.

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Phil health chief recommends flight ban on HK over Omicron

By Daisy CL Mandap

 

Duque wants a travel ban on HK imposed immediately

Philippine Health Secretary Francisco Duque III has said in a TV interview Saturday that he has recommended a ban on travelers from Hong Kong after two imported cases of the new coronavirus variant, B.1.1529 or Omicron, were detected in the city.

Duque said in the Dobol B News TV interview that he has sent a letter to Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea asking for a quick response to his request to make sure the Omicron, which has just been declared a variant of concern by the World Health Organization, does not enter the Philippines.

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He said there is an urgent need to impose a ban as many overseas Filipino workers traditionally go home for Christmas.

The country’s Inter-Agency Task Force on Covid has already approved the suspension of flights from South Africa and Botswana and neighboring countries Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe to prevent the mutant strain entering the Philippines.

Hong Kong, meanwhile, has put all of the said countries under Category A or high-risk countries, which means only residents may enter from these places, and they have to spend 21 days in quarantine.

On Saturday, the city’s government tightened the measures further by stipulating that from today, all new arrivals from the eight South African countries will have to spend their first seven days at a quarantine center, during which they will be tested every day and their health conditions monitored.

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After completing the seven-day quarantine at the government-run facility, “they will be allowed to finish the rest of the compulsory quarantine requirement at the designated quarantine hotel which they have reserved,” said the statement.

“They are also required to undergo testing on the 9th, 12th, 16th and 19th day and another compulsory testing in a community testing centre on the 26th day of arrival at Hong Kong.”

All arrivals from the 8 South African states will have to spend
their first 7 days of quarantine in a govt facility

The government statement said the WHO named the mutant strain Omicron after declaring it a variant of concern.  

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“The mutant strain possesses a large number of mutations and it was first reported to the WHO from South Africa on Nov. 24” said the government.

“In addition, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, this mutant strain is the most divergent variant during the COVID-19 pandemic so far. This raises concerns that it may be associated with increased transmissibility, reduction in vaccine effectiveness and increased risk for reinfections.”

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Apart from the two imported cases found in HK, the Omicron variant is said to have been detected in several other places including Botswana, South Africa, Israel and Belgium.

The government said it has contacted the health authorities in Israel and Belgium for details about the imported cases there.

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Further, the government said that no new cases have been found so far among people who stayed on the same floor of Regal Airport Hotel as the returnee from South Africa and the man from Canada he infected. 

Twelve other guests who stayed in adjacent rooms on the same floor between Nov 11 and 14 were sent to Penny’s Bay Quarantine Centre but all have tested negative so far for Covid-19.

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However, the government says it has been closely monitoring the latest data on mutant strains as well as the epidemic situation in various places and will adjust the boarding, quarantine and testing requirements for persons arriving in Hong Kong from high risk places as the situation warrants.

In the meantime, surveillance at designated quarantine hotels has been stepped to ensure compliance with infection control measures. People undergoing quarantine are reminded that they must keep the windows in their hotel room closed and to wear a surgical mask when they open the room door.

Meanwhile, three new imported Covid-19 infections were reported today, involving travelers from the United Kingdom, India and Russia. All carried the L452R mutant strain.

Two of them, a 47-year-old female resident from the UK and a 58-year-old male air crew from Russia, tested positive on their arrival test. The third, a 72-year-old woman who came from India via the United Arab Emirates, tested positive on her third day of stay at Regal Airport Hotel.

 

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