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On Today’s Tide
Crime | Special team sent to care home amidst abuse allegations.
COVID-19 | Delta fears rise amongst Omicron wave.
HK Express Bangkok service gets a two-week ban.
Another country was added to the Group A list.
Events | TOMORROW catch the latest on COVID-19 in HK and beyond.
For our paying subscribers:
Diplomat | Youth Mobility Scheme Ballot opening TODAY. Plus, opportunities to live and work in Canada.
Bonus | The worst pizza you’ve ever seen.
Special team to monitor care home at centre of abuse scandal
The Social Welfare Department is sending an external team of social and health care workers to the child care home that has seen a number of abuse allegations of its staff members. The team will be responsible for further investigating the facility and submitting a report on their findings by 25 January.
If you haven’t been following along on High Tide so far, 16 employees of this Mong Kok care home were arrested and charged for allegedly assaulting dozens of the children aged 1 to 3 years old they were responsible for.
If you need a refresher, see our previous coverage on this story here and here.
Delta rides the Omicron wave
Officials are worried that the Delta variant is on the rise in the SAR as it tackles the Omicron variant.
“There may be Delta strain circulating. So it is not only restricted to the Omicron cases we detected recently. So of course we’re very worried whether there are other sources of infections that have not been detected.”
— Chuang Shuk-kwan, Centre of Health and Protection
The preliminary positive Delta variant case that has health officials concerned was found in a 23-year-old woman who works in a Causeway Bay pet shop, went for hotpot in Yau Ma Tei, and stayed at a Wan Chai hotel.
Other COVID-19 updates:
New cases: 11 (8 imported)
All new cases are mutant strains. Two that are possibly linked to imported cases involve a cargo aircraft cabin cleaner and a passenger arrival from Pakistan. See more on the latest COVID-19 cases in HK here.
Hong Kong is banning HK Express Airways service from Bangkok until 29 January due to a passenger violating COVID regulations while another tested positive for the virus.
Bhutan will join the countries on the Group A travel list starting on Wednesday (19 January).
No positive cases of COVID-19 have been found after the completion of Sunday’s lockdown and mandatory testing operation at Tung Moon House in Sham Shui Po and Wang Sin House in Tsing Yi.
Testing is mandatory for those who were present at six specified premises. See when and where in the Annex provided.
Events
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We’ll throw in a free month of Paid High Tide for yourself or a friend!
TOMORROW | Coronavirus updates: Episode 32: Conversation With Dr. David Ho
This coming Tuesday (18 Jan) Asia Society invites Dr David Ho, a renowned public health expert who has extensive experience and knowledge on AIDS research, to speak on his latest research into developing novel strategies to diagnose, treat and prevent Covid-19 infection.
When: 18 Jan 8-9 pm
Where: Online
Cost: Free
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