This is the 993rd issue of One Day in Hong Kong
Infographic
According to Sing Tao Daily, Chan Ka-leung, dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Chinese, Hong Kong, said on a radio programme yesterday (April 30) that the CUHK Medical College found that 3 out of every 4 people who recovered in Hong Kong were plagued by long-term comprehensive sequelae of COVID-19, the most common being tiredness, insomnia, poor memory or hair loss, urging the HA to face up to the potential problems caused by the long-term sequelae of COVID-19 and ensure that the Hong Kong medical system can more effectively cope with the threat of long-term sequelae of COVID-19.
Chen Jialiang said that from time to time, people who have recovered from the new crown have reflected a lot of physical discomfort, for example, they used to run for more than an hour every day, but after recovering, climbing two flights of stairs has been tired, and there are symptoms such as continuous cough, insomnia, poor memory, etc., but repeated tests have shown that they have no virus, so the medical community calls it "the sequelae of the new crown long-term syndrome".
Chan said that the Hong Kong Microbiome Innovation Centre under CUHK has conducted research to analyze the bacterial genes of more than 1,200 stool samples and found that patients with long-term sequelae of COVID-19 have a unique intestinal microecology, which can be called "long-term sequelae intestinal microecology", which can be used to predict the risk of long-term sequelae of COVID-19 in people who have recovered from COVID-19, or to diagnose whether people with long-term sequelae have persistent symptoms.
Hong Kong eased entry restrictions for non-Hong Kong residents from today
Image source: Dot News
The Hong Kong SAR Government announced earlier that it will relax entry restrictions from today (May 1), lift the two-year ban on non-Hong Kong residents, and allow them to enter Hong Kong from overseas areas. The quarantine arrangement is the same as for Hong Kong residents, i.e. a minimum of 7 days of hotel quarantine. The airport arrival test will be added in early May, and uninfected arrivals will go to the quarantine hotel to wait for the nucleic acid test results.
At the same time, since today, the SAR government has also relaxed the flight circuit breaker mechanism again. If there are 5 or more passengers on the same arriving civil airliner, or 5% or more of the total number of passengers on board the aircraft arriving in Hong Kong, whichever is higher, are confirmed by arrival testing, or if 3 or more passengers are confirmed by arrival testing and the flight allows 1 or more passengers who fail to meet the conditions specified under the Prevention and Control of Disease (Regulation of Cross-Border Means of Transport and Arrivals) Regulation (Cap. 599H) Regulations, the relevant airline's civil aviation airlines arriving in Hong Kong from the same location will be prohibited from landing in Hong Kong for 5 days.
The HKSAR Government has also adjusted the testing and quarantine arrangements for crew members accordingly, including shortening the quarantine period to 3 days after the crew of the passenger plane stationed in Hong Kong returns to Hong Kong, and the crew of the cargo plane stationed in Hong Kong do not need to self-isolate after returning to Hong Kong, but only need to undergo the "test pending" arrangement at the airport and obtain a negative result before leaving.
According to the HKSAR Government, this is in consideration of the strict closed-loop arrangements for the crew of the passenger plane stationed in Hong Kong during their stay at the outbound station, and they are required to self-isolate at the designated quarantine hotel after returning to Hong Kong until they obtain a negative nucleic acid test result on the third day after arrival. As for the crew of the cargo aircraft stationed in Hong Kong, they are required to observe a closed-loop arrangement during their stay at the outbound station and will not contact passengers during their flight duties, so they are not required to self-isolate upon their return to Hong Kong.
At the same time, all crew members stationed in Hong Kong are subject to medical monitoring until the 14th day after their arrival, during which they undergo multiple nucleic acid tests. They are also required to undergo daily rapid antigen testing, avoid any activity of removing their masks in public places, avoid travel to crowded places and large gatherings, and record their whereabouts until the 7th day after their arrival. In the event of a violation, the designated identity of the relevant crew member will be cancelled.
Crew members who stay in Hong Kong for a short period of time without entering the local community are required to undergo a strict closed-loop arrangement, which requires them to obtain a negative rapid antigen test result before boarding the flight to Hong Kong, use exclusive access at the Hong Kong International Airport upon arrival, and can only take point-to-point transportation to and from Hong Kong International Airport and designated airport hotels. These crew members are also required to self-isolate in their airport hotel rooms until they leave Hong Kong by point-to-point transport and through exclusive access to the Hong Kong International Airport.
In addition, in anticipation of the continued increase in the overall number of visitors to Hong Kong, the HKSAR Government, after assessing the use of the community isolation facilities, decided to convert 9 hotels that were previously used or reserved as community isolation facilities to designated quarantine hotels. The hospitals will be open to service in early May and will accept room reservations, and are expected to provide about 4,000 additional rooms.
Measures to relax Some people are happy and some are worried
In fact, after the Hong Kong SAR Government announced the above measures last month, the AA welcomed the fact that it would respond appropriately to air traffic needs and prepare for the expected increase in flights and passengers.
The Hong Kong business community has also reacted positively. Sheng Zhiwen, chairman of Lan Kwai Fong Group, believes that the new arrangement will help the banking industry and international companies retain talent, but it is estimated that it will not be attractive to tourists in the short term. Chen Zhongni, vice president of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Legislative Council, believes that in the past period of time, due to the inconvenience of returning to Hong Kong, the loss of talents in finance and other industries has helped these industries to re-attract talents to Hong Kong.
But there are also fears that easing restrictions could give Hong Kong a rebound. Shi Lide, president of the manufacturers' association, said that the relaxation measures should be taken slowly, otherwise "once relaxed, the epidemic rebounds, the government will be responsible", but I hope that there will be a timetable, and the SAR government should also set goals and guidelines for the international community to understand.
As for some groups suggesting that home isolation be used instead of hotel isolation, Xu Shuchang, an expert adviser to the HKSAR Government and Chair Professor of respiratory science at CUHK, believes that there are risks in the relevant practices, and he suggested that if returnees are allowed to quarantine at home in the future, electronic bracelets should be distributed to them to ensure that they do not go out.
Xu Shuchang pointed out that the living environment in Hong Kong is crowded, and few people have independent rooms and toilets, and mentioned that the Cathay Pacific crew who brought the Aomi Kerong mutant virus strain to Hong Kong earlier, as well as the children of saudi consuls who came to Cityplaza after the epidemic last year, all went out during the home quarantine period.
Gao Yongwen: Relaxing social distancing measures before the epidemic is "cleared" will definitely rebound
The epidemic situation in Hong Kong continues to recede, with the Department of Health and the Hospital Authority (HA) today (1 May) notified that as of 00:00 today, there were 300 new confirmed cases in Hong Kong, which was less than 500 for 8 consecutive days.
HaC reported 5 more deaths, ranging from 53 to 88 years old, of whom four were over 65 years old and the 53-year-old woman was diabetic. She fainted at home for about 10 minutes last Sunday, and when her son found out, she was sent to the hospital, when she was not articulate, and her right side of the body was forced, which is believed to be because of cerebral hemorrhage that increased cerebral pressure. On the same day, she was transferred to the Department of Brain Surgery at Queen Elizabeth Hospital for continued treatment, and the admission screening found that she was positive for the new crown virus, and the Ct value of the virus was 34.8, that is, the virus volume was low, and she died at about 7 o'clock yesterday morning. Since the fifth wave of the epidemic, a total of 9,100 COVID-19 patients have passed away in Hong Kong.
Gao Yongwen, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and former director of the Food and Health Bureau, said in a radio program today that the epidemic in Hong Kong is stable, but there will be a rebound in relaxing social distancing measures before it is "cleared". He called on the public to adhere to personal protective measures, and masks will remain a part of life until the epidemic is over.
Gao Yongwen said that he is not opposed to adjusting social distancing measures, but the epidemic situation has not been "cleared", and there is still a transmission chain in the community, and it is unknown whether there will be a mutant strain with stronger transmission power, and it is still necessary to isolate facilities such as square cabins.
Gao Yongwen said that he really did not think that the medical system would collapse in this wave of the epidemic, and the last time it faced a serious impact was the SARS period. He said that the HA should make a good plan and emergency mechanism, and believed that it could summarize the experience of collaboration with the mainland medical team in hong Kong this time, including the cooperation between traditional Chinese and Western medicine.