🌊 Competitive Hong Kong

Domestic worker death ruled 'natural causes'

Good morning.

I survived a 15-hour layover in Paris on less than 2 hours of sleep. Which was nicer than expected, considering what my friend has to say about the city.

Jasmine Lee’s book is free @jasmineisms

“you could die on the street here and no one would help you” — a Parisian on Paris, 14.7.2022

— Jasmine Lee

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On Today’s Tide

1. Government | Hong Kong officials to quarantine ahead of handover anniversary.

2. Economy | Hong Kong the fifth most competitive place in the world. HK experiences highest salary rise in 3 years.

3. COVID-19 | Daily cases go beyond 1,000 for the first time in two months.

Behind the paywall:

1. Culture | There are more buildings that will get revitalised.

2. Food | Your bread is too salty. Also, Cafe De Coral may increase prices.

3. Crime | Jury dictates that a domestic worker died of natural causes. Also, a woman was arrested for laundering $$$$$.

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Officials need quarantine – but not to travel

Government

City officials will be going through a three-day hotel quarantine after a four-day period of self-management (avoiding high-risk areas) before mainland state leaders are scheduled to come into Hong Kong for the 25th handover anniversary. Wouldn’t want to be getting any of the mainland big wigs sick now, would we?

There’s no news on whether or not Xi Jingping will be one of the authorities coming into town for the 1 July anniversary.

Other government-related stories

• Winnie Ho Wing-yin (director of architectural services) is said to become the new head of the Housing Bureau.

• LegCo has approved a restructuring package that would add new deputies to the government and see an expansion of 13 to 15 policy bureaus.

• Applications to the BN(O) visa program increased 25% in the period between January to March 2022 compared to the previous quarter. 95% of these applications were done from outside of the UK.

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Hong Kong is hella competitive

Economy

Hong Kong has jumped up two rankings, making it the fifth most competitive place in the world according to the International Institute for Management Development (IMD)’s World Competitiveness Yearbook. The ranking was decided based on factors including government efficiency, business efficiency, economic performance and infrastructure.

The countries that made the top four? Denmark, Switzerland, Singapore, and Sweden.

Other economic news

• Salaries have increased by an average of 3.2%, which makes it the highest rise in three years.

• Greater Bay Airlines will begin running its first commercial flight from HK to Bangkok on 23 July.

• Cathay Pacific plans to hire 8,000 staff by the end of next year, with about 2,000 of those planned to be rehired crew who were laid off due to COVID-related job cuts.

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COVID-19 in Hong Kong

Aaron Busch @tripperhead

COVID-19 cases 🇭🇰 June 15th, 2022 • New local cases: 971 📈 (+219) • Cases in hospital: 412 📈 (+21) • New admissions: 73 (-3) • New serious cases: 0 • Total serious cases: 6 • New critical cases: 1 • Total critical cases: 16 • ICU: 6 • New reported deaths: 1

• New cases: 1,047 (76 imported)

  • The highest number of daily cases in 2 months!

• Total cases: 1,221,808

• New deaths: 1

• Total deaths: 9,392

• Compulsory testing notices: 35 places

Other COVID-19 stories

• Three COVID cases were found after a lockdown that ended Wednesday morning at Kwai Ching House in Kwai Fong Estate.

• Staff are now entitled to sick leave if they come down with COVID. Unvaccinated employees on the other hand who refuse to get the vaccine (if they’re not medically exempt) can be rightfully fired by their employer.

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Events and deals

Support Harbour Times, our friends and partners by attending these events! Let everyone know who sent you by tagging @harbourtimes

• BEC EnviroSeries conference: Driving Business Ambition into Action for a Net-Zero Hong Kong

The BEC’s upcoming conference titled ‘Driving Business Ambition into Action for a Net-Zero Hong Kong’ takes place on 17 June. The full-day conference sees commercial and environmental experts come together to share new ideas on how to turn ambition into action for a better future.

Read our full write up on it here.

• ReThink HK returns 5-6 Oct

HT is proud to once again be a media partner for ReThink - HK’s biggest and most exciting sustainability conference. This year’s conference invites more than 300 expert speakers to share their visions and insights, covering important topics like economic progression while coexisting with nature harmoniously, efficient use of resources, transformation to a low-carbon society, and circular economy for future generations.

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• HT x Program (soft opening)

I've been secretly hinting (badly) at this. To thank all of you readers, as well as support the local businesses that make Hong Kong special, HT has teamed up with various businesses to give readers special discounts.

While Premium Tiders get a substantially greater discount at all partners stores, free readers get discounts too, so make sure to share!

Simply open up the link below and start supporting cool people that do cool things!

Harbour Times ❌ Program

For more local events, check out yesterday’s High Tide.

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