🌊Record breaking month of heat

Hotel quarantine will definitely be shortened: John Lee

Aug 1, 2022

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Good morning,

Saw some tweets saying it would be nice to have HK show up at the Commonwealth games. Obviously we are not at the Commonwealth games (and all the tourists here in Brum are definitely not HKers for the Games. Although, I have seen lots more Aussies…when I venutre to the pub after writing High Tide).

Anyway, I did a bit of digging and found some good info about HK’s relationship to the Commonwealth and whether we can actually be in the games. The results may surprise you.

Cyril Ma @Cyrildoesthings

Looking more into Hong Kong's current/historical links to the Commonwealth since the absolutely BLINDING lights from the Birmingham 'sports village' shines DIRECTLY into my window: A 🧵

~ Cyril

On Today’s Tide

Weather | July broke all hot weather records
COVID | Gov confirms shortening quarantine…no info given
Culture | LCSD renters have new safety rules following MIRROR
Events | Applications for the Edward Youde Scholarship are open!

Behind the paywall:

Updates |
- Car parade rides smoothly (protests not so much)
- Rugby 7s to run with drinks but no food
Politics | Barristers cite UNHRC statement on speech therapist case

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It’s VERY hot

July was a hot streak of record breaking for being…hot.

And so without further ado, last month won the gold for

Mean temperature: 30.3°C (previously 30.2°C in 2020)
Mean minimum temperature: 28.4°C (previously 28.3°C in 2020)
Highest daily max temperatire: 36.1°C
Highest daily min temperature: 29.9°C
Number of ‘very hot days’ (defined as above 33°C): 21 days (previously 20 in 20202)
Number of ‘hot nights’ (defined as above 28°C): 25 days (previously 21 in 2020)
Continuous streak of hot nights: 3 weeks
Days over 35°C: 10
Days over 34°C: 16

Jokes aside, this is obviously a massive problem. It’s not better oveseas either (I missed a train from London a few weeks ago because the tracks literally caught fire).

There were four heatstroke deaths reported in July. And despite unions calling for the government to list heatstroke as an occupational disease, the government denied saying heatstroke is not tied to a particular occupation but instead your time outdoors.

So if you do an outside job like…say…construction, please ask your employer if you can work from home.

Hong Kong SAR Government News @newsgovhk

The Centre for Health Protection says it is investigating 4,019 additional locally acquired #COVID19 cases, of which 1,486 were directly identified through nucleic acid tests and 2,533 via rapid antigen tests that were verified

news.gov.hk4k COVID-19 cases recordedThe Centre for Health Protection says it is investigating 4,019 additional locally acquired COVID-19 cases, of which 1,486 were directly identified through nucleic acid tests and 2,533 via rapid antigen tests that were verified.

COVID-19 in Hong Kong

New cases: 4254
Total cases: 1,358,248
New deaths: 6
Total deaths: 9,509
Compulsory Testing: 66 locations

Quarantine confirmed to be shortened!

To what? Nobody knows.

CE John Lee said yesterday that the government has definitely decided to shorten inbound hotel quarantine. However, he has no more details to announce saying the Health Bureau and the Hospital Authority have to look at various data before any concrete decisions are made.

Macau opens back up further

Having more or less crushed their (arguably only major) COVID wave, Macau will further open back up from tomorrow. Restaurants and non-essentially businesses (except casinos which already opened as of 23 Jul) may reopen but diners have to have tested negative during the past 3 days to dine in.

Shots for babies

Government advisors agree that toddlers as young as 6 can be given a COVID shot. According to the advisors, sino-vac adult shots are safe for toddlers, and BioNTech has a baby version but will need to be sourced as it is not currently in Hong Kong.

Stricter temporary rules for LCSD venues

Following the MIRROR falling screen disaster, the government has announced a stricter set of temporary rules for all event organisers. These include

Changing current set designs to be safer (it’s a very general point)
No mechanical devices that swing, rotate or carry people
All devices have to be inspected daily

The new rules are to be in place for at least one to two weeks while a task-force investigates.

That is a very task-forcey task force. Image via GovHK.

The government has issued notices to everyone who’s booked an LCSD venue before September.

Events and deals

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

Edward Youde Scholarships (a friendly reminder)

The Sir Edward Youde Scholarship is a semi-governmental fund for HKers wishing to study abroad. They offer fellowships for postgrad (HK$300,000 per year) and scholarships for undergrad students (HK$280,000 per year).

Applications have been open from 4 Jul and close on 9 Sept.

If you want to study abroad (perhaps after visiting all the CG stalls at the book fair!) then this is a great way to get financial support because it ain’t cheap.

Find out more on their website.

BEC IEE Training Program: Upcoming Courses

Practical step-by-step carbon audit procedures including emission source identification, data collection, emission calculation, and reporting will be explained fully in layman’s terms.

Participants will exercise carbon emissions calculation in class under the full guidance of the instructor. Challenges often encountered during in-house carbon audit will also be shared with real life examples along with suggested solutions. Click here for more information!

Where: BEC Building Kowloon Tong
When: 12th August
How much: 1350HKD