February 25 2022 - 08:00
Hong Kong families despair as Covid rules may separate them from children
Guada, a mother of two young children and pregnant with twins, cries herself to sleep at night, worried that Hong Kong's severe Covid-19 rules will separate her from her kids or force her to give birth alone.
Anyone who tests positive for Covid in Hong Kong, including infants and children, are put into isolation facilities with no family contact allowed, as authorities enforce their "dynamic zero" Covid policy.
As coronavirus cases hit record daily highs, the government plans to roll out compulsory mass testing for the city's 7.4 million people in March, exacerbating separation fears among many local and expatriate families.
"Imagine the stress I'm having right now ... scared of having to give birth alone, scared of them taking my daughters away, taking my babies away, scared that if I'm positive, they are going to take me away," said Guada, an Argentinian who has lived in Hong Kong for 3-1/2 years and has two girls aged 3 and 5. She declined to give her last name due to the sensitivity of the situation.
Parents' worries have been heightened after authorities made an infected 11-month-old isolate by herself in hospital.
In the past two weeks, authorities have reported the deaths of several children who were infected with coronavirus, the youngest another 11-month-old.
Diplomats in the global financial hub say they have repeatedly raised concerns with the government over the issue of parents being separated from children in a city with some of the world's most stringent coronavirus measures.
The government did not respond to a request for comment.
Authorities have said they are overwhelmed and cannot accommodate parents staying with infected infants as hospitals operate at maximum or over capacity with close to 10,000 new daily infections from nearly zero at the start of the year.
Parents can arrange video calls three times a day to stay in contact with their young ones, health authorities said.
"For me, it's very inhumane. I'm very afraid. I have a daughter aged 14 months, she doesn't speak, she doesn't know how our phone works," said a university lecturer who declined to be identified.
Medical clinic Central Health said isolating infants presented a "significant risk" of child fatalities "as parents may delay taking their children to hospital during critical periods when intervention could save lives."
Some families, particularly in the expatriate community, have decided to leave ahead of the mandatory coronavirus testing in March.
While details of the testing remain vague, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam has said people will not be able to isolate at home if they test positive and must go to government centres.
Isolation and quarantine centres are currently at their maximum capacity with around 60,000 residents waiting at home to be admitted.
The government is building tens of thousands of new isolation units, with the help of the Chinese government, compounding worries families will be separated.
Hong Kong has recorded over 80,000 infections and over 400 deaths since 2020, fewer than other major cities.
Spanish expatriate Veronica, who has lived in Hong Kong for nine years and also declined to give her last name, said she was distressed about the prospect of being separated from her three-month-old.
"I'm worried about leaving him alone, I'm not worried about the virus, I have the vaccine. I'm just worried about the situation," she said.
Reuters
COVID-19 WRAP | SA records 2,111 cases, 127 deaths in the past 24 hours
Image: Louise Delmotte/Bloomberg
February 25 2022 - 19:56
Covid-19: SA records 2,111 cases, 127 deaths in the past 24 hours
SA recorded 2,111 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said on Friday.
This means there have been 3,669,671 total confirmed cases across the country since the outbreak of the coronavirus in March 2020.
February 25 2022 - 11:00
Hong Kong expected to report record 10,000 new Covid cases on Friday -TVB
Hong Kong is expected to report about 10,000 new Covid-19 infections on Friday, setting a new daily record as an outbreak of the highly-transmissible Omicron variant worsens, broadcaster TVB said, citing an unidentified source.
Reuters
February 25 2022 - 09:00
Tarzana couple convicted in $18M coronavirus fraud captured after 6 months on the run
Three members of an Encino-based fraud ring who went on the lam after being convicted of stealing more than $18 million in Covid-19 relief loans were captured in Montenegro and federal authorities are seeking their extradition, a senior law enforcement official told City News Service Wednesday.
February 25 2022 - 08:30
Mainland China posts highest number of imported Covid cases in nearly 2 years
China on Friday reported the highest daily count of Covid-19 cases arriving from outside the mainland in nearly two years, with infections mostly from Hong Kong as the financial hub grapples with a wave of infections.
The mainland detected a total of 142 imported cases with confirmed symptoms for Thursday, the National Health Commission (NHC) said on Friday.
It marks the highest imported caseload since the authority began classifying domestically transmitted cases and infected travellers from outside the mainland separately, in March 2020.
More than 100 imported cases came from Hong Kong, with 47 reported in the southern city of Shenzhen and 51 in the eastern municipality of Shanghai, local health authorities' bulletins showed. The capital Beijing also detected seven symptomatic cases arriving from Hong Kong.
Mainland China requires most general travellers arriving from outside to be quarantined for at least 14 days, and cities have varying requirements afterwards before they can travel freely.
For Thursday the mainland also detected 87 asymptomatic carriers arriving from outside, which authorities count separately.
There were also 82 locally transmitted infections with confirmed symptoms on Thursday, the NHC data showed.
No new deaths were reported, leaving the death toll unchanged at 4,636.
As of February 24, mainland China had 108,604 cases with confirmed symptoms, including both local and imported ones.
Reuters
February 25 2022 - 08:00
Hong Kong families despair as Covid rules may separate them from children
Guada, a mother of two young children and pregnant with twins, cries herself to sleep at night, worried that Hong Kong's severe Covid-19 rules will separate her from her kids or force her to give birth alone.
Anyone who tests positive for Covid in Hong Kong, including infants and children, are put into isolation facilities with no family contact allowed, as authorities enforce their "dynamic zero" Covid policy.
As coronavirus cases hit record daily highs, the government plans to roll out compulsory mass testing for the city's 7.4 million people in March, exacerbating separation fears among many local and expatriate families.
"Imagine the stress I'm having right now ... scared of having to give birth alone, scared of them taking my daughters away, taking my babies away, scared that if I'm positive, they are going to take me away," said Guada, an Argentinian who has lived in Hong Kong for 3-1/2 years and has two girls aged 3 and 5. She declined to give her last name due to the sensitivity of the situation.
Parents' worries have been heightened after authorities made an infected 11-month-old isolate by herself in hospital.
In the past two weeks, authorities have reported the deaths of several children who were infected with coronavirus, the youngest another 11-month-old.
Diplomats in the global financial hub say they have repeatedly raised concerns with the government over the issue of parents being separated from children in a city with some of the world's most stringent coronavirus measures.
The government did not respond to a request for comment.
Authorities have said they are overwhelmed and cannot accommodate parents staying with infected infants as hospitals operate at maximum or over capacity with close to 10,000 new daily infections from nearly zero at the start of the year.
Parents can arrange video calls three times a day to stay in contact with their young ones, health authorities said.
"For me, it's very inhumane. I'm very afraid. I have a daughter aged 14 months, she doesn't speak, she doesn't know how our phone works," said a university lecturer who declined to be identified.
Medical clinic Central Health said isolating infants presented a "significant risk" of child fatalities "as parents may delay taking their children to hospital during critical periods when intervention could save lives."
Some families, particularly in the expatriate community, have decided to leave ahead of the mandatory coronavirus testing in March.
While details of the testing remain vague, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam has said people will not be able to isolate at home if they test positive and must go to government centres.
Isolation and quarantine centres are currently at their maximum capacity with around 60,000 residents waiting at home to be admitted.
The government is building tens of thousands of new isolation units, with the help of the Chinese government, compounding worries families will be separated.
Hong Kong has recorded over 80,000 infections and over 400 deaths since 2020, fewer than other major cities.
Spanish expatriate Veronica, who has lived in Hong Kong for nine years and also declined to give her last name, said she was distressed about the prospect of being separated from her three-month-old.
"I'm worried about leaving him alone, I'm not worried about the virus, I have the vaccine. I'm just worried about the situation," she said.
Reuters
February 25 2022 - 07:00
The state of disaster will be scrapped soon, so how will government then manage Covid-19?
New regulations set to replace the national state of disaster are being formulated by various government departments — led by the health department — to ensure continued management of Covid-19.
Health minister Joe Phaahla said on Thursday government was close to finalising the changes which will be presented to the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) and other stakeholders before they are made public.
Phaahla was speaking at a social cluster media briefing.
“Various departments are working on alternative measures to exit the state of disaster. We are working on our health regulations, making sure that we have enough protection measures through the National Health Act and its regulations to replace the Disaster Management Act.”
February 25 2022 - 06:30
Covid-19 pandemic at a ‘turning point’: groundbreaking study
February 25 2022 - 06:00
Rare chance for Africa to make its own vaccines, but market must buy
A rare opportunity for Africa to start producing more of its own vaccines has come up as a result of the pandemic, but unless buyers purchase stock produced on the continent, all efforts will be in vain.
This was the view expressed by top-notch experts at the Ports to Arms Global Summit in Abuja, Nigeria, this week.
Nigerian finance minister Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed said the pandemic had exposed “how vulnerable we are in Africa in terms of vaccines”.
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