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12th April - Carrle Lam Press Conference

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  1. #1

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    12th April - Carrle Lam Press Conference

    Expecting new social distancing and policy announcements.

    Announcement

    • 125 Cases in hospital. HK is doing considerably better by global infections and hospitalisation rates.

    • Most of the current cases are international arrivals.

    • 2.55 contacts per confirmed patients in 3rd wave. 3.5 contacts per patient. URSUS - average 9.7 close contacts per case were quarantined. Contact tracing and testing capabilities have been vastly expanded.

    • Would like to see vaccination rate go up. Not satisfactory at the moment. As of last night 578K - 1st dose. ~250K have completed second dose.

    • People would like to see 1) return to normalcy and a timetable for this return. 2) Return to mainland travel resumption. 3) Vaccination benefits. Heard from many sectors that taking down entire sectors is not optimal - "Stop and go approach". Infection control measures need to be more targeted.


    New Measures for fully vaccinated people - 2 jabs + 14 days. Not immediate.

    • If establishments need to have night time dining - currently need 14 day mandatory testing. With staff having taken1 vaccination & customers need to use LeaveHomeSafe app - food establishments will be allowed to be relaxed. Tables can go from 4 pax to 6 and dining hours can extend to 12 midnight.

      With 2nd vaccination, where the space permits a zone of fully vaccinated staff and customers with 1 jab can have 8 people per table. Banquet to 100 pax. Dining hours - 2AM.

      When everyone is fully vaccinated - staff + customers. Number of people to say "12" per table.

    • For the rest of the premises - nightclubs, mahjong parlours, karaoke, bathhouses etc. Vaccinations will form the basis of resumptions.

      Bars and pubs present more of a risk as "people take off their masks and consume alcoholic beverages". Drunk bastards may not follow protocols.

      If bars staff and customers have 1 shot - All customers have to use LeaveHomeSafe app. Bars and pubs can resume business in a limited way. Fine details will be discussed.

      8 weeks later - 2nd jab + 14 days. Further relaxation is possible at the six types of premises. Will release an additional subsidy of about 400M dollars.

    • Visitation to hospitals etc may be relaxed with more vaccinations. Tour groups, AGMs and other meetings / gatherings restrictions may be possible.

    • Working on details on how venue operators can check vaccination records.

    • All of this is current "thinking". All current measures will be extended till 28th of April. Gives time to take into account any Easter infections and also gives people time to get start their vaccination rounds.

    • Will consider stopping free testing for those who are not under mandatory testing orders. Get vaccinated and stop doing regular free tests.

    • Low risk places: Singapore, Australia and New Zealand - Quarantine period might be reduced to 7 days if they're vaccinated.

    • Medium Risk places: Vaccinated people may have reduced quarantine periods.

    • HK might implement some unilateral travel arrangements for vaccinated residents. (Not sure if this is translated correctly).

    • New arrangements for cross boundary drivers into Guangzhou.

    • UK Flights: By early May flight restrictions will be lifted. 21 days quarantine will still be needed. Also seemed to indicate that they can book any hotels.

    • Return2HK - By mid May, non residents may be allowed back. "Come2HK" scheme. May be for Guangzhou residents. Arrangements need to be made for vaccination checking protocols.

    • Targeted control measures to be adopted for imported cases. Circuit breaker mechanism for flights to be announced.

    • Entire workplace / whole block testing will continue locally. "Ambush testing" to continue. Confirmed cases will lead to areas being closed off / quarantined etc.



    Circuit Breaker

    • Vaccination Program: HK has an abundant supply. Have started planning the next vaccination rounds. Considering procuring a new generation vaccine to protect against variants. Efficacy against new variants will be a key consideration of the next round of procurement.

    • Imported cases will be monitored for variants. Variants are arriving from more locations. March - 150 imported cases - 101 involved variants (67%). Risk from these cases is high.

    • Circuit Breaker for Airlines: If there are more than a certain number of cases on a flight airline or route may be banned for 14 days. These bans have been invoked 24 times so far.

    • If airlines from a destination carry a certain number of cases and confirmed variants - all flights from this destination will be blocked for 14 days.



    Elderly care home visits:

    • If family members have 2 jabs + take antigen test. Can visit residents of care homes. If family members cannot take vaccine - they can produce a negative nucleic test within 72 hours.

    • Not found a single case in care workers in current round of testing. Encouraging workers to take the vaccine for their own protection and more importantly for their patients.


    Skipping the cross boundary lorry driver arrangements...

    Q&A

    (Will not cover stupid questions.. might cover the answers)

    • No need for vaccine nationalism. As long as the vaccine is offered in HK or approved by WHO the vaccines will be recognised in HK.

    • Singapore Bubble When people leave HK they need to be vaccinated (HK requirement).

    • When will you allow below 30 to get vaccinated?

    • Come2HK - No vaccination required, will need negative test before departure. China has very isolated cases. Zero infections have been picked up in over 290K arrivals under the return2hk scheme.

    • Under 30 vaccinations will depend on availability of supply and expert panel views.

    • If you have smart handsets you must use the LeaveHomeSafe app. Will require food establishments to use the app if they want the restrictions relaxed.

    • Vaccine bubbles are based on individual or group of individuals by establishment. Not an overall vaccination drive. Targeting individuals. If a family of 8 wants to enjoy a dinner together - get vaccinated.

    • If all the preparatory work for relaxation can be done by April 29th, the new round of social distancing measures will accommodate the relaxation, assuming there is no Easter surge.

    • New shipment of BioNTech + Use of old vaccinations currently in storage:

      - Will be receiving new shipments.
      - Do not think there is any problem with storage capacity
      - (Not answered the question)




    https://webcast.info.gov.hk/revamp/eng/livecast.html
    Last edited by shri; 12-04-2021 at 05:17 PM.

  2. #2

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    This press conference is all over the place.

    Being held in my opinion to offer some stale carrots before the stick is shown.

    Bottom line - repeated 8000 times in the last hour - get vaccinated.


  3. #3

    I think when she said - now giving it to secretary of transportation to talk about cross border lorry drivers - that did it for you

    shri likes this.

  4. #4

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    While it sounds great, nothing is set in stone.

    Like feeding a stubborn baby. Not gonna happen unless you take firm action.


  5. #5

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    Original Post Deleted
    Agree, makes no sense. NZ, OZ and Taiwan have no cases. Could just get rid of the quarantine without the vaccine requirements. I wanna see 7 day quarantine for everyone fully vaccinated with a negative PCR test. No matter where they are coming from.
    MABinPengChau, bak875 and cookie09 like this.

  6. #6

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    [Thanks to shri for the excellent coverage as always.]


    • =
    • No need for vaccine nationalism. As long as the vaccine is offered in HK or approved by WHO the vaccines will be recognised in HK.
    • Singapore Bubble When people leave HK they need to be vaccinated (HK requirement). [/QUOTE]


    More drip drip measures and no plan.

    Plenty of coercion but no sign of fresh thinking.

    Come2HK - Should call “no need for vaccine nationalism” “no-need-for-vaccine nationalism”.

    Meanwhile, need to be vaccinated to leave Hong Kong (to Singapore)? There are definitely a few people living in a bubble here. What happened to the daily average of under five being a bearable amount of risk (and that was pre-vaccination!) [cf. China - isolated cases]

    Much more helpful with actual decision making might be understanding how they square the philosophical circle and how other jurisdictions intend to treat non-equivalent vaccines for travel purposes.
    Last edited by shri; 12-04-2021 at 05:27 PM.
    Sage and aw451 like this.

  7. #7

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    I think it was an - overall - decent press conference.
    In terms of messaging - it is a shitshow.

    Create an agenda, distribute talking points and stick to them.

    As much as I hate powerpoints, I'd love to see a programmed powerpoint with 30-90 seconds per bullet and then move on.

    They're still fucking going on about "fully vaccinated" "protect the health"...
    mrgoodkat and rs4 like this.

  8. #8

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    Original Post Deleted
    Mexico is fully open to Americans, even Covid denying unvaccinated ones. You know why? $$$

    Hong Kong’s most important border is the northern one, end of story.
    mrgoodkat, Drunken Master and rs4 like this.

  9. #9

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    [QUOTE=AsianXpat0;3792254][Thanks to shri for the excellent coverage as always.]


    [LIST]=[*]No need for vaccine nationalism. As long as the vaccine is offered in HK or approved by WHO the vaccines will be recognised in HK.[*]Singapore Bubble When people leave HK they need to be vaccinated.
    [QUOTE]


    Agree, more FF’ing Covid paranoia on display. People are vaccinated for F.Sake, and they still insist on this ridiculous charade of attempting to eliminate tiny fragments of 1 in a million risk.

    Jesus, grow some balls HK.

    aw451 likes this.

  10. #10

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    Original Post Deleted
    I though vaccination is essential for staff but only for customers if they want to dine in large groups...so under 30s can ear at a table of 4 just like now.
    mrgoodkat likes this.

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