🌊 Status: High Alert

Ireland encourages against "zero-COVID" mentality

Good morning.

Today’s beer recommendation from someone who isn’t the biggest fan of beer is Kona Big Wave! I’m a big fan of this golden ale that comes all the way from Hawaii. I first tried it when I worked as a server in Canada and happened to find one place in Birmingham that sells it on tap – which is pretty impressive for Birmingham.

— Jasmine Lee

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On Today’s Tide

International | Hong Kong receives High Alert status from US.

COVID-19 | An entire school’s worth of children hospitalised.

Events | Hong Kong Arts Festival.

Behind the paywall:

National Security Law | Former Bar Association chief leaves city after meeting with NSL police.

Transport | Bus and MTR services get cut down even more (ugh, COVID).

Diplomat | Ireland against zero-COVID – Consulates of Canada, Ireland, and UK speak out on Hong Kong’s COVID-19 situation.

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US puts HK on ‘High Alert’

International

US Con HK & Macau @USAinHKMacau

🚨Travel Advisory Updates for HK: Level 4 Do Not Travel (March 1, 2022) U.S. citizens should not travel to HK due to COVID-19 and related restrictions. The Department of State has no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas. hk.usconsulate.gov/u-s-citizen-se…

Hong Kong put on ‘Do Not Travel’ Level 4 High Alert:

The Travel Advisory for Hong Kong has been updated to reflect health and security conditions on the ground.  The Travel Advisory is now at Level 4: – Do Not Travel due to COVID-19 and COVID-19 related restrictions, including the risk of parents and children being separated.  US citizens should also reconsider travel to Hong Kong due to arbitrary enforcement of local laws.

We made this update to reflect the current situation in Hong Kong, where a zero-tolerance approach to COVID-19 by the PRC and Hong Kong governments severely impacts travel and access to public services.  We especially want to note for families considering traveling to or residing in Hong Kong that in some cases, children in Hong Kong who test positive have been separated from their parents and kept in isolation until they meet local hospital discharge requirements.

In February, 94,305 people flew out of Hong Kong, while 22,681 entered the city. This is the highest recorded outflow from HK since the beginning of the fifth wave.

See what other countries have to say about HK’s current COVID situation behind the paywall.

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Children hospitalised in the thousands

COVID-19

Hong Kong SAR Government News @newsgovhk

The Centre for Health Protection says it is investigating 55,353 additional #COVID19 cases, of which 27 are imported and the rest are locally infected #FifthWaveEpidemic news.gov.hk/eng/2022/03/20…

New cases: 55,353 (27 imported)

Deaths: 117

Over 1,900 children have been hospitalised due to COVID-19, 49 of which received intensive care. As someone who graduated from a high school of 1,700 students, picturing those numbers is both sad and terrifying.

HSBC, Hang Seng, Standard Chartered enter the HK vaccine bubble.

Security Secretary Chris Tang has completed his two week self-quarantine and has returned to work.

Allan Zeman allegedly sent an email to Carrie Lam in a plea for more reassuring communication between the government and the people of Hong Kong (see tweet below).

Alvin Lum @alvinllum

Allan Zeman has written to CE Carrie Lam, warning about "confusing messages" on lockdown and int'l reputations damaged. "...I worry that ‘One Country Two Systems’ as we know it will disappear. A lot of talent has already left. I don’t think this is what President Xi wants..."

Lockdown updates:

• 828 preliminary positive cases after overnight lockdowns in Tung Chung, Tsing Yi, Sha Tin, Kwun Tong and Kowloon City

• Buildings in Yuen Long, Tsing Yi, Sha Tin, Kwun Tong and Kowloon City have been put into overnight lockdown.

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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 Paid High Tide for yourself or a friend!

Hong Kong Arts Festival

Surprise! The Arts Festival is still alive and kicking. Even though theatres are closed, the beauty of modern technology means that many events which were luckily already held online, will continue to run as planned.

Watch livestreamed operas and concerts, and even some one-on-one interactive live theatre! Make sure to register in advance - each show has its own attendance policy.

Highlights include

Theatre:

• To Be A Machine (Version 1.0), by Irish theater company Dead Centre (23 – 26 Mar)

• TM - A live interactive one-on-one experience exploring media manipulation, populist ideology and conspiracy theories - by Belgian theatre company Ontroerend Goed
  (every weekend till 27 Mar)

Music & Opera:

• Shostakovich’s The Nose performed by the Bavarian State Opera
  (10-17 Mar)

• Family Concert (for the kids) including classical favourites like Saint-Saëns’s The Carnival of the Animals and Haas’s Little I-Am-Me.
  (11-25 Apr)

For more information, read our article on which shows are still running here.

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