Telehealth and GP service Babylon has rolled out a "COVID-19 Care Assistant" with a raft of features designed to help subscribers cope with symptoms during the pandemic, from the safety of their phone screen

Last month, I paid a visit to Yuen Long where I met a few families at Long Shin Estate. Apart from distributing face masks and anti-epidemic supplies to them, I was also given a better understanding of the impact brought by the epidemic on their daily lives. To show our concerted support in the fight against the disease, the Department of Justice (DoJ) Staff Club organised a volunteer activity on Sunday, which I joined with my fellow colleagues in offering our help to those in need.

To echo the Government's move to stay united, the DoJ Staff Club put forth a cash contribution campaign to buy anti-epidemic supplies for donation. The staff club volunteers acquired face masks and alcohol-based handrub in different ways - some were purchased through online shopping and some were bought at medicine stores. Last Sunday, I joined the volunteers in packing the anti-epidemic supplies, supermarket cash coupons and leaflets with health information. Our volunteers took the care packs in person to a non-governmental organisation a few days ago for passing to the elderly and low-income groups.

The staff club has been participating in volunteer services now and then. Given the overwhelming response this time, I am glad to know that more volunteer activities would be organised in the future. I would definitely be joining as many as I could. Through offering our efforts to help those in need, we hope to show our care for the less privileged in society and contribute to building a caring and inclusive community.

The public services of the DoJ, like all other government departments, have gradually resumed back to normal. I inspected the Justice Place on Monday to learn more about the infection control measures in place, such as the body temperature checking arrangement, provision of hand sanitisers and sanitising mats at building entrances.

We must remain vigilant as the epidemic is still severe, and more importantly, we also need to stand in solidarity in the fight against the disease.

Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng wrote this article and posted it on her blog on March 5.

The banking sector today launched a scheme to alleviate the cashflow pressure faced by corporate customers in light of the economic challenges brought about by the COVID-19 outbreak.

Jointly announced by the Monetary Authority and the Banking Sector SME Lending Coordination Mechanism, the Pre-approved Principal Payment Holiday Scheme is estimated to cover more than 80% of all corporate borrowers in Hong Kong.

All corporate customers that have an annual sales turnover of $800 million or less and with no outstanding loan payments overdue for more than 30 days are eligible for the scheme.

Eligible customers’ loan principal payments due within a six-month period between May 1 and October 31 this year will be pre-approved for deferment.

The loans’ principal payments, including revolving facilities, will generally be deferred by six months, whereas trade facilities, given their short-term nature, will be deferred by three months.

The scheme does not cover syndicated loans or loans used for financing purchases of shares or other financial assets.

Banks will begin informing eligible customers of the pre-approval under the scheme as soon as practicable. Eligible customers do not need to apply. They only need to contact the bank within 14 days of the bank’s notice to confirm the detailed arrangements.

The authority has issued a circular requesting all banks to participate in the scheme and has received support from all 11 major lenders in the co-ordination mechanism.

It will monitor the scheme’s operation and maintain close dialogue with banks.

Sarah Tomasello
Jan 1, 2008; 21:19-25
Articles

Jennal L. Johnson
Jul 1, 2006; 19:148-153
Articles

Jul 1, 2002; 15:
Patient Information

Betsy B. Dokken
Jul 1, 2008; 21:160-165
From Research to Practice/Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes

(University of Southampton) Scientists have published highly detailed images of lab-grown neurons using Extreme Ultraviolet radiation that could aid the analysis of neurodegenerative diseases.

(University of South Florida (USF Health)) A new preclinical study by researchers at the University of South Florida Health (USF Health) Morsani College of Medicine and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine offers promise of a specific treatment for NEC, a rare inflammatory bowel disease that is a leading cause of death in premature infants. The team found that inhibiting the inflammatory and blood-clotting molecule thrombin with targeted nanotherapy can protect against NEC-like injury in newborn mice.

(To watch the full press conference with sign language interpretation, click here.)

Chief Executive Carrie Lam today said because Hong Kong has not reported a local COVID-19 case for over two weeks and imported cases are low, some anti-epidemic measures can be lifted.

During a press conference, Mrs Lam outlined that unlike some European countries, Hong Kong did not need to go into lockdown to contain the spread of the disease.

“Hong Kong has never gone into a stage of a complete city lockdown. In some of the European countries where they practise a city lockdown, residents are simply not allowed to leave their homes, except for some very essential purposes. But we have never adopted that practice.

“And in fact, many renowned experts are now trying to study our situation - why does Hong Kong succeed in keeping the confirmed cases at a low level without drastic measures like a complete city lockdown. And I do think that is a very interesting topic for further research.”

Mrs Lam noted that the Government had adopted the “suppress and lift” strategy under which restrictions are implemented and lifted in accordance with the infection situation.

“The strategy that Hong Kong has been adopting - and advocated by some of our experts - is what we call a ‘suppress and lift strategy’.

“So in light of the number of confirmed cases and likelihood of the spread of the disease in the community, we will have to suppress in order to make sure that there will be no surge in the number of confirmed cases as we have seen in some neighbouring regions.

“When the situation of the infection stabilises, that is the time for lifting, that is, loosening a bit so that society can operate more normally, especially for the businesses and for individuals’ behaviour.”

The Chief Executive said the Government still needed to monitor the COVID-19 situation closely, even though it was in the stage of lifting restrictions.

“We are now right in the stage of lifting because we have not had a local case for 16 days already and the number of imported cases is very, very low.

“We are now quite confident that the system of testing and holding that we have put in place for all arrivals from overseas would enable us to control the number of imported cases. So this is a time for lifting and this afternoon we have announced a number of lifting measures.

“If the situation continues to stay at the current level - no local cases, very few imported cases - then at the end of the 14-day period, that is May 22, of course that would be the time for more relaxation.”

Mrs Lam added that if a local case suddenly surfaced, Hong Kong may have to go back to some suppression measures, which was why the Government had to monitor the situation closely so it could take the necessary and pertinent response measures.