This is the consensus amongst Hong Kong people. But will the government listen?

#Border #ChinesePneumonia

Director from a Shanghai hospital orders Communist Party’s doctors to stand in frontline fighting against the Coronavirus

(31 Jan) Hubei Province, the Coronavirus disaster area, is still heavily lacking of resources to win the battle. Many suspected patients with fever have to wait for 17 or 18 hours before getting a first treatment. After the consultation, they still need to wait for a while for admission due to insufficient beds in the hospitals. This makes the coronavirus to spread widely and continuously.

Considering the worsening situation, apart from providing supports to Hubei, Beijing has also sent some inspection teams to the province to ensure the officials are all doing their best on the anti-virus works. However, one of the officials who was the Health Department Chief of Huanggang City was found not familiar with the situation and the epidemic. She was then terminated and became the first official stepping down to accept the responsibility.

In response to the issue of frontline medical personnel getting emotional and stressful, Doctor ZHANG Wenhong, Group Leader of Shanghai Medical Expert Group and Director of the Infection Department of Huashan Hospital, decided to replace all the frontline doctors in the Infection Department by Communist Party’s doctors.

ZHANG, who had participated in the medical works against SARS outbreak, added that he would have wards rounding once or twice a week in order to avoid a general perception that directorial doctors don’t want to get in touch with patients.

Source: NowTV News Reports

Authorities Denies the Entry of War Correspondent Michael Yon to Hong Kong

Michael Yon, an independent war correspondent who had covered the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, has been actively reporting the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong since 2019. On Feb 5, 2020, Yon was, however, deported by the Hong Kong authorities for reasons unknown.

Yon wrote on Facebook:
"Hong Kong: Am being denied entry and deported. No solid reason. Being held by immigration. Sending me to Thailand. I will then head to Taiwan. Which also is not China. US Embassy is alerted. Thank you for all! FIGHT FOR FREEDOM! STAND WITH HONG KONG!"

[Editor's note: In 2018, the Hong Kong authorities refused the visa renewal of Victor Mallet, a Financial Times journalist. In 2019, Indonesian citizen journalist Yuli Riswati was deported by the Hong Kong authorities. The erosion of press freedom is worrying.]

Source: Michael Yon's Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/207730000664/posts/10156964188090665/

#PressFreedom #MichaelYon

Carrie Lam claimed that most of the the borders have been closed and there will be a drastic drop in the number of travellers from the mainland. But it is not the truth

#DailyUpdate #5Feb

2019-nCoV Updates (5 Feb):

- The new figures from China’s Health Commission on Wednesday showed that 65 people died on Tuesday and 3,887 more people had been infected. So far, 24,324 people are known to have been infected in China.

- Nanjing with over 8,000,000 population is lockdown, the 27th city being lockdown in China.

- Chinese scientists are reporting preliminary success with a new approach for treating the coronavirus: an antiviral drug used in treating influenza and an anti-H.I.V. drug.

- In a front-page editorial Tuesday, the People's Daily -- the official mouthpiece of the Communist Party -- called for a "people's war" against the virus, adding that people should "more closely rally around the CCP with comrade Xi Jinping as the core." President Xi Jinping himself, however, has been missing in recent days, not appearing on front pages or in the nightly newscast on state broadcaster CCTV.

- The United States has begun its second airlift of American citizens out of China. “Two planes have departed Wuhan en route to the United States,” the State Department said in a statement Tuesday night.

- Cathay Pacific is asking its 27,000 employees to take three weeks of unpaid leave in an emergency move as Hong Kong’s flagship carrier struggles with a financial blow from the coronavirus outbreak in China.

- Public health experts have criticized a report, published last week that suggested the coronavirus could spread before the onset of symptoms. The study had seemed to confirm earlier statements from Chinese officials that the virus could spread asymptomatically. In an email to CNN on Tuesday, German public health officials said the report was incorrect.

- An infant in Wuhan has reportedly tested positive for the coronavirus just 30 hours after birth

Source: CNN, NYT, China Times, SCMP

#HealthCrisis
Over 2,000 desperate shoppers line up overnight for face mask, blaming government's refusal to shutdown Chinese borders

A shop in Kowloon Bay announced on their website a sale of surgical mask on the next day (February 5), which aroused overwhelming response as 2,000 locals started lining up outside the shop immediately in the evening.

In the morning, the crowd covered almost the entire Kowloon Bay Industrial District. Staff and police were involved to maintain order or the crowd. Dazed by the desperate crowd of shoppers, staffs acknowledged that demand in the community was far beyond their expectation. He said that the stock initially planned for two days has been exhausted in just few hours.

A civilian, Mr Lam learnt that he was the 2,200th in the line, but still decided to wait. He said in distress, “this is Hong Kong in year 2020, not 1970, what has brought Hong Kong down to this state?”

Another shopper Ms Chan struck home her comment that the desperation in the community was caused by Carrie Lam’s refusal to lockdown Chinese borders. She cried out in anger, “[w]hat's the point for her (Carrie Lam) to shutdown borders, yet leaving the busiest ones opened”

Source: In Media Hong Kong
#Feb5 #ChinesePneumonia #GlobalOutbreak #Mask

#Newspaper

Confirmed WARS cases with her Wuhan parents, director of Chinese-funded Company said sorry via Wechat, admitted bringing troubles to Hong Kong when handling her infected parents

Editor’s Note: Knowing people from Wuhan would not be accepted into hotels, Deng, from mainland China graduated from Tsinghua University and had a master degree in Havard University, used her ID to arrange hotel for her parents instead, given that she knew there was an outbreak of WARS in Wuhan and her parents were showing symptoms of WARS. Later she also refused to disclose where they had been wandering around. Even apology to the public is not enough to compensate for all social disturbance, panic and even wide spread of WARS caused by them, she only “feel sorry”to the general public and said they did cooperate. Indeed a good example of what world class selfishness is like.

(1 Feb) There have been 13 confirmed cases of WARS in Hong Kong so far. One of the confirmed cases was Deng Xi, the managing director of the investment department of Haitong Securities, a Hong Kong based Chinese-funded financial company. Deng Xi might be infected by parents who came from Wuhan and have been the first local transmission case in Hong Kong. Allegedly, Deng Xi has first brought her parents to the W Hotel and then went to both the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and Four Seasons Hotel. She was criticized due to her refusal to disclose her parents’ whereabouts. Deng Xi has posted on WeChat that she is sorry for causing so much trouble, public anxiety, and social disturbance. Deng Xi also mentioned that she had made wrong judgement in dealing with this incident and she hoped for forgiveness from everyone.

Parents having low fever and resting in hotel room

Continue reading:
https://telegra.ph/Confirmed-WARS-cases-with-her-Wuhan-parents-director-of-Chinese-funded-Company-said-sorry-via-Wechat-admitted-bringing-troubles--02-05

Source: Stand News
https://bit.ly/3beq0RY

#Selfishness #HaitongSecurities #DengXi #WHotel #DoNotCooperate #LackOfPublicAwareness #Wuhan #RitzCarltonHotel #FourSeasonsHotel

In response to the partial border closure, the number of mainland visitors to Hong Kong increases instead. The measure seems to be counter-effective

請大家幫幫手廣傳🙏🏻
Please help spread the below info on disease prevention prepared by the Centre for Health Protection, Department of Health to EM community!

‼️‼️完整防疫資訊‼️‼️
Prevent pneumonia and respiratory tract infection (Simplified version by Centre for Health Protection, Department of Health), updated on Feb 5, 2020 🔊🔊🔊

中文: https://www.chp.gov.hk/files/pdf/factsheetchi_wuhan.pdf

English: https://www.chp.gov.hk/files/pdf/factsheeteng_wuhan.pdf

Urdu 烏爾都語: https://www.chp.gov.hk/files/pdf/prevent_pneumonia_urdu.pdf

Nepali 尼泊爾文: https://www.chp.gov.hk/files/pdf/prevent_pneumonia_nepali.pdf

Thai 泰文: https://www.chp.gov.hk/files/pdf/prevent_pneumonia_thai.pdf

Hindi 印度文: https://www.chp.gov.hk/files/pdf/prevent_pneumonia_hindi.pdf

Bahasa Indonesia 印尼文: https://www.chp.gov.hk/files/pdf/prevent_pneumonia_indonesian.pdf

Tagalog 菲律賓文: https://www.chp.gov.hk/files/pdf/prevent_pneumonia_tagalog.pdf

全面抗疫，齊上齊落💪🏻
正確洗手方法💦及佩戴口罩指引😷（多種語言）
Guidelines for Good Handwashing 💦and Use Mask😷 Properly (multi-languages)

(Urdu 巴基斯坦文版)
https://www.chp.gov.hk/tc/wapdf/34132.html
ہاتھوں کو اچھی طرح دھونے سے متعلق راہ عمل

(Bahasa Indonesia 印尼文版)
https://www.chp.gov.hk/tc/wapdf/34122.html?page=1
Petunjuk Mencuci Tangan yang Baik

(Nepali 尼泊爾文版)
https://www.chp.gov.hk/tc/wapdf/34126.html?page=1
हात राम्रो गरेर धुने बारेको निर्देशिका

(Indian 印度文版)
https://www.chp.gov.hk/tc/wapdf/34113.html?page=1
सही तरीके से हाथ धोने संबंधी दिशानिर्देश

(Thai 泰文版)
https://www.chp.gov.hk/tc/wapdf/34138.html
ข้อแนะนำในการล้างมืออย่างถูกต้อง

(Tagalog 菲律賓文版)
https://www.chp.gov.hk/tc/wapdf/34134.html
Mga Patnubay sa Mabuting Paghuhugas ng Kamay

Bipartisan Move to Nominate Hong Kong Protestors for Nobel Peace Prize

Despite a Capitol Hill choked in the miasma of polarization, the CECC has launched a bipartisan and bicameral decision under Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) to nominate the pro-democracy movement of Hong Kong for the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize.

The letter to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee praised Hong Kong protestors as having “demonstrated … an unwavering commitment to a free and democratic Hong Kong”, while the protests were “impressively organized and coherent, yet notably leaderless and flexible.” The Commissioners urged the committee to recognize the contributions and sacrifice of Hong Kong protestors to the course of democracy in not just Hong Kong, but also the world.

Meanwhile, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fl) invited activist Nathan Law to attend the State of Union address, calling Law “an inspiration in the fight for freedom and democracy.”

Source: Radio Free Asia, Hong Kong Stand Strong Live #Feb5
#GlobalSupport

#PoliceState
24-year-old arrestee beaten by unknown persons from head to toe in police station with his head wrapped up in bags
Judge: What's the point for telling me?

Over a thousand residents of Mei Foo Sun Cheun protested against the Govern
ment's plan to convert the Heritage Lodge into a quarantine camp on Sunday, which ended with a clash with riot police. Two were arrested for building road blocks, assaulting police officer and disturbing public order.

Defending a 24-year-old clerk, barrister Douglas Kwok Kin-hin attempted to raise a complaint over police brutality during the hearing. Kwok said that his client was beaten by 6-7 unknown person in police station from head to toe, while his head was wrapped up in a plastic bag and a cloth bag. He was also threatened not to make a complaint, saying, “Don’t complain”, “don’t tell your lawyer”, otherwise, “unless you hide away at home in the future, or we will certainly hunt you down.”

But Magistrate Ng Chung-yee refused to listen and asked, “why should I know about it? This is not Independent Police Complaints Council.” Kwok explained that it was important to keep a court record.

Source: In Media Hong Kong
#Feb5 #PoliceBrutality #HKProtest

Brilliant idea Carrie! Way to alleviate the shortage of masks is not to wear it. But the root of the problem is left unhandled, not to mention you may be infringing the basic rights of your fellow colleagues

Letter from Kowloon Motor Bus (KMB) Director to Employees - Masks will be Provided

[Editor's note: KMB is a bus operator in Hong Kong]

"To All KMB and Long Win Bus Frontline Colleagues,

The epidemic now facing Hong Kong is severe. The daily patronage of KMB and Long Win buses has recorded a very significant decline. In order to ensure that the company’s development can be sustained and to strive to protect the health of frontline employees, at this stage we need to review the changes in patronage in various routes and will adjust the bus timetables accordingly. By doing so, we are ensuring a healthy and solid foundation for growth in view of this extremely difficult operating environment. The temporary work rosters effective from February will also allow our colleagues more rest time for their health and wellbeing.

In addition, owing to the severe supply shortage of face masks, the company has been sourcing through various channels, including direct contact with suppliers, distributors and the government. Nonetheless, the number of face masks the company currently has in stock is very limited. From this Sunday (2 February 2020) onwards, the number of masks provided to all frontline employees will be changed to one mask per roster per employee. This ensures proper protection for each one. The company will continue to source more masks. Once supply situation returns to normal, the company promises to resume the distribution of two masks per roster per frontline employee.
Once again, I would like to express my sincere thanks to everyone for your continual steadfast work during this difficult time.

I wish you all peace of mind and safety at work and at home!

Patrick Pang Shu-hung
KMB Deputy Operations Director
31/01/2020"

#KMB #Bus #Masks

#Newspaper
To prevent Chinese from buying up face masks, Japanese thought of “Taiwan Flag”

(3 Feb) The Wuhan Pneumonia epidemic is still escalating. People are buying up face masks, disinfectants and other sanitary items in droves. It is however believed that face masks should be distributed to the medical practitioners at the front line first. There is already a mayhem over the face masks, with a lot of grivances from those who were unable to source these masks.

How to break away from this wave of “Face Mask Mayhem,” and to prevent Chinese tourists from buying up the face masks in many other countries? Facebook page “Just to block the Blues” disclosed the secret, “Masters of life trivia! The Japanese have found out that, if you print the Taiwan (Republic of China) flag on the face masks, then that may prevent the Chinese from piling them up for re-selling.” This is a clever method, because once a person being seen using anything with “Taiwan National Flag” printed on it or holding the Flag, (s)he would be attacked by Chinese netizens as a “Taiwan Separatist.” The Japanese are too smart!

Source: Liberty Times Net
https://ent.ltn.com.tw/news/breakingnews/3055810

#FaceMask #TaiwanFlag #Japanese

#Strike
Flight Attendants’ Association calls a strike in support of medical staff, urging government to lockdown all borders with China

The Hong Kong Dragon Airlines Flight Attendants Association appealed to members and the public that a strike doesn’t mean they are clinging to life and fear death, rather it is because they do not want front-line colleagues to bear the great risk of being infected, worrying about work safety everyday.

“Guarding the health of our colleagues, passengers and the people of Hong Kong, the Association, though reluctantly, is calling for a strike, hoping to curb the virus from being transmitted to Hong Kong and to spread the epidemic any further.”

https://www.facebook.com/594642803906393/posts/2702744526429533/

#Feb5 #ChinesePneumonia #GlobalOutbreak #HealthCrisis

China Receives Aid from 21 Countries,
PRC's Spokeperson: China primarily relies on its own power to cope with the epidermic
    
China's Foreign Ministry admits earlier that China is in need of medical supply. After receiving aid from different countries, China's spokeperson Hua Chunying, however, said on Feb 5 that "China primarily relies on its own power to cope with the epidermic".

On Feb 3, China's spokeperson said that despite facemasks donated by Korea and Japan, China "urgently needs medical supply such as medical masks, protective garments and protective goggles".

As at noon on Feb 5, China has received medical supply from 21 countries including Japan, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Germany, Britain and France; however, China's spokewoman told the press that after all "China primarily relies on its own power to cope with the epidermic".

On the one hand, Hua said that China is willing to share information with other nations in an "open, transparent and responsible" manner. On the other hand, Hua by citing WHO secretary-general Tedros Adhanom asked other nations not to "be overreactive" and not to "believe in rumour", in view of the imposition of evacuation plan and restrictions on China.

Sourcs: Liberty Times #Feb5
https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/world/breakingnews/3059072

Italy bans flights from Taiwan because the WHO listed Taiwan "under China"

(1 Feb) Yesterday, Italy began restricting all flights from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and China. Johnson Sen Chiang - Director-General of European Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of China (Taiwan) - said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed discontent and concern upon receiving the notification. Discussions revealed that the World Health Organization (WHO) listed Taiwan under China, leading Italian Ministry of Health officials to restrict Taiwan flights from landing in Italy. However, this does not necessarily reflect Italy's political stance on whether Taiwan is part of China.

Jaushieh Joseph Wu, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China plans to hold an international press conference tomorrow to specify that Taiwan and China are different and address the WHO's categorisation issue.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs: WHO's miscategorisation misleads other countries

Chiang stated that more than 60 countries and regions ban Chinese but not Taiwanese flights. This showed that many countries knew the difference between Taiwan and China. Italy referred to information from the WHO, which evaluated China's risk as being the highest and made a footnote that Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan were included. The categorisation was an error that misled the Italian Ministry of Health to make the wrong decision.

At the moment the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is negotiating with Italy and making its discontent and concern known to the WHO. Chiang emphasised that it does not mean Italy believes Taiwan is part of China. The WHO's mistake is separate from Italy's political stance.

On the other hand, Vietnam's ban of Taiwanese flights this afternoon was lifted in the evening after successful negotiations. To avoid similar situations of having to explain the difference between China and Taiwan to other countries, Wu will hold an international press conference tomorrow to address the issue.

Source: Liberty Times
https://m.ltn.com.tw/news/politics/breakingnews/3054770

#Coronavirus #WHO #OneChina #Taiwan #Italy #Vietnam #Miscategorisation

"Huge reason to keep official border crossings open" to avoid people entering irregularly and going unchecked for symptoms, WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told a Geneva briefing.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/02/01/world/europe/31reuters-china-health-who.html

#WHO #BorderWideOpen

#Newspaper

How is WHO Director-General elected?

In 2007, China joined with a group of developing countries successfully to elect Margaret Chan from Hong Kong as the Director-General of the World Health Organization and then re-elected in 2012. During her tenure, she carried out the major reformation of the election system. The Executive Board will choose three candidates in closed session to the World Health Assembly. Then the World Health Assembly will vote for the new WHO Director-General. Each country represents one vote. The new arrangement is obviously beneficial to developing countries such as China. For example, African countries have more than 50 votes in total, accounting for 1 over 4 of memberships. In 2017, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus from Ethiopia overwhelming defected British opponents with 133 votes to 50 votes. At the time, international experts were happy with the election results and believed that the recognition of WHO could be significantly improved. And Tedros could also help the work of WHO to be more relevant to the needs of developing countries, especially to curb the spread of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in Africa.

In fact, Tedros is the first WHO Director-General who is not a doctor. His academic was in the field of public health, and he has been in politics for a long time. From 2012 to 2016, he was the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia. In this Wuhan pneumonia, he had been involved in scandals. For example, during his term as the Ethiopian health minister from 2005 to 2012, he concealed the cholera disaster three times, causing hundreds of patients to die. He expressed his gratitude by appointing 93-year-old President Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe as a WHO Goodwill Ambassador in 2017. Later, this decision was withdrawn due to political pressure. In 2018, a month after meeting with Putin, he suddenly appointed an anonymous Russian representative to oversee the project against tuberculosis. This alternative director-general is leading the WHO to deal with the epidemic of a century, and can only wish everyone good health.

Source: CUP
https://bit.ly/2GW1siG

#Tedros #WHO #MargaretChan #WHODirectorGeneral