🌊 Thousands hope for a life in Canada

First dose jabs hit a milestone in HK

Good morning.

Hong Kong’s news cycle seems to be massively inundated with updates from the latest COVID-19 wave, which is understandable considering the numbers of local infections we’ve been seeing.

— Jasmine Lee

PS Paying subscribers get to see how the EU Office commemorated Lunar New Year (and the view from their office) behind the paywall.

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On Today’s Tide

Immigration | 14,500 Hongkongers apply to work or study in Canada.

COVID-19 | 80% of Hong Kong’s population has gotten their first dose.

Events

Behind the paywall:

Government | District Council vice-chairman bids Democratic Party farewell.

Bonus | Who’s the EU Office’s mascot for the Year of the Tiger?

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14,500 Hongkongers hope to escape to the great white north 🇨🇦

As a Canadian by birth I’m not surprised to see that Hongkongers have flocked to immigration by the thousands to try their luck at a new life in the cold barren land of the Canucks.

Nearly 14,500 residents in Hong Kong applied to work or study in Canada, with either pathways holding the potential to lead to permanent residency. This is nothing in comparison to Hongkongers who applied to live in the UK – apparently applicants to Canada and UK together surpass 100,000 applications in total.

Kudos to those trying to make a new life for themselves, and Canada isn’t a bad choice either. Some would say it’s their dream, but since I was given the privilege of living the first 19 years of my life in the country, I got absolutely sick of it and moved away. Just don’t try to go rogue and enter the country like this:

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80% of Hong Kong population gets first dose

COVID-19

The percentage of people eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine who have had their first dose has surpassed 80% (about 5.4 million people). Over a million have received their booster shots. The government will be enacting vaccine pass regulations on 24 February, which are expected to be detailed to the public soon.

Hong Kong SAR Government News @newsgovhk

The Centre for Health Protection says it is investigating 342 additional #COVID19 cases which are all locally infected

news.gov.hk342 COVID-19 cases reportedThe Centre for Health Protection says it is investigating 342 additional COVID-19 cases which are all locally infected.

New cases: 342 (all locally infected)

Overnight lockdowns in several residential buildings in Sha Tin and Tuen Mun tested over 6,000 people and found 26 preliminary positive cases.

Some sewage samples collected in Wong Tai Sin, Tuen Mun and Sha Tin have come back with a positive result as well, which sent five residential blocks in Sha Tin and Tuen Mun into lockdown on Sunday night. The testing operations in Sha Tin should be complete by 10 AM while those in Tuen Mun will end at around 12 PM.

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Events

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!

Talk | The Sex Slavery Trade in Southeast Asia with Sylvia Yu and Matthew Friedman

This talk already occurred, but I couldn’t leave it out of today’s Tide knowing that I could direct people to watch an informative session on arguably the world’s darkest industry, human trafficking, with two people who are very qualified to speak on the issue. Friedman’s book, Where Were You? is very much worth the read.

Human Trafficking Search (HTS) @HTSearch

Just watched @Sylvia_YF and @FriedmanMattS on @GreatPeopleTV.my SO POWERFUL! "If you don't know about the issue, you won't care about the issue. If you don't care about the issue, you won't do anything about it." Watch, know, care and act! #modernslavery fb.watch/aXA6Qg_A7h/

The Future of Money and Power: e-RMB and CIPS

Join this lunch to learn more about China’s electronic currency and its “answer to the American-dominated SWIFT system: CIPS”. The talk emphasises the importance of China’s monetary system “as a global currency to rival the Euro and maybe, someday, the USD.” The speaker will be one of our own: Andrew Work, founder of Harbour Times and Co-founder and Director of the Lion Rock Institute.

When: 18 February 2022, 12:30 – 2 PM

Where: The Foreign Correspondents' Club - Verandah

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