🌊 Start-up airline takes flight
🌊 Start-up airline takes flight
Buses join the COVID patient transport fleet.
Good morning.
Today’s news was packed, which means there is a ton of updates that our Premium subscribers get to read in full today.
On Today’s Tide
COVID-19 | Mega donations come in from corporations to help Hong Kong tackle COVID-19.
Events | Distract yourself from this grim reality with glass art sculptures.
Behind the paywall:
Business | There’s a new airline in town. Also, unemployment in the food and beverage sector goes up.
Education | Lingnan University head announces departure.
Transporation | MTR to reduce services further.
Crime | Woman gets community service for putting cat in washing machine. Child abuse suspects denied bail.
Millions pour in to help fight COVID
Big donations have come rolling in from companies to help with HK’s COVID-19 struggle:
HSBC donated $100 million
Hang Seng Bank also donated $10 million for the purchase of anti-pandemic equipment.
Hang Lung Properties will donate $10 million and offer “gift packs” (containing supermarket/health supplies, data SIM cards) to frontline workers
Shaw Foundations will donate $10 million to the Hospital Authority
NWS Holdings will give 10,000 medical-grade oximeters for preliminary positive cases to monitor their blood oxygen saturation and pulse data
All aboard the COVID bus!
New cases: 7,533 (3 imported)
200 buses and minibuses have been designated to transport COVID-19 patients with mild/no symptoms to quarantine facilities.
LegCo President Andrew Leung is in at-home quarantine after his driver tested positive for COVID yesterday. Henry Tang, another government official forced to work from home because his driver contracted the virus, will be missing the annual session of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
An 11-month-old girl who died on Sunday is now the youngest patient to pass away from COVID-19. According to the Centre for Health Protection, nearly 90% of the COVID-19 patients who died in the latest wave were unvaccinated.
Reminder: The vaccine pass scheme will begin on Thursday (24 February) and be rolled out in three phases, so that people have time to get their second and third doses. In the first phase, people aged 12 and up will be required to show proof of at least one COVID-19 jab to go certain places. Shopping malls, supermarkets, and wet markets will not require a pass for entry. Exemptions have been made for individuals eligible for the COVID-19 Vaccination Medical Exemption Certificate.
The epidemiological experts who arrived from the mainland to assist with Hong Kong’s COVID-19 surge will be staying in the city for another week. Originally intending to stay for five days from their Thursday arrival, the team will instead leave on Monday (28 February).
41 Filipino domestic workers have been made homeless after testing positive for the virus. See HKFP’s story on the authorities clearing domestic workers who break the two-person public gathering limit.
Private hospitals will start to treat public healthcare system patients who do not have COVID-19 in a number of days to help with the pressure public hospitals have been facing.
Samples taken from imported frozen beef and pork skin tested positive for COVID. Not to worry though, as the samples that tested positive have not entered the market. It’s scary that COVID-19 can be carried through your frozen food though!
A two-day lockdown at Pok Tat House in Sha Tin found 116 preliminary positives
Compulsory testing notice was issued for 22 specified places (see Annex for details).
Events/Exhibitions, etc.
We want to make sure that what we advertise is interesting for our readers, so if you go to an event that you saw here, let us know by taking a selfie and tagging us on Twitter or Instagram ( both @harbourtimes ).
We’ll throw in a free month of High Tide Premium for yourself or a friend!
See two worlds of glass sculptures by French artist Jean-Michel Othoniel at Perrotin Hong Kong
From the exhibition page:
Perrotin Hong Kong is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Jean-Michel Othoniel, marking his second gallery presentation in Hong Kong. Oscillating between fragility and strength, the infinite and the tangible, rationality and sensuality, Othoniel’s artworks embrace and transcend opposites in order to expand our conception of reality, reconciling contradictions and opening up realms of wonders.
When: Until 26 February
Where: 807, K11, Atelier Victoria Dockside, 18 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
Thanks for reading High Tide so far!
If you’d still like to support our work but cannot upgrade to a paid subscription, you can share us with your friends.
Or open a business account with Neat and get a US$65 welcome gift!
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to High Tide to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.