Bookings for Covid-19 vaccinations in Hong Kong, especially for the Chinese-made Sinovac jab, have surged significantly on the back of a HK$10.8 million (US$1.4 million) flat lottery and the offer of doses to visitors from across the border. On Friday, more than 10,500 people reserved Sinovac slots - the highest since March 17 - while the 15,100 bookings for the BioNTech jab also marked a strong showing within a three-week span for the.
Covid-19 has too often brought out the worst in many societies around the world, particularly in terms of aggravating income, racial, gender and other inequalities. Hong Kong, despite its relative success in combating the pandemic, is unfortunately no exception. The recent testing order for all of the nearly 400,000 foreign domestic helpers in the city, and plans (suspended after a diplomatic backlash) to make vaccination mandatory before.
The genomes of the latest two mutated Covid-19 infections in Hong Kong are identical to the first variant case detected in the community, the Post has learned, raising fears over the emergence of invisible transmission chains in the city. According to a source, a preliminary sequencing study found a 39-year-old domestic helper - the city's first untraceable local case involving a mutated strain - and the 10-month-old baby she took care of had.
HSBC, Standard Chartered give investors glimpses of their cost cuts and bets on Asia when they post first-quarter results this week HSBC’s main building in Central. HSBC is expected to kick off earnings season for the city’s biggest banks beginning on Tuesday. Photo: May Tse
Investors will be watching this week to see whether historically low interest rates gash the bottom lines of Hong Kong s banks in the first quarter as economic conditions in the city begin to normalise.
HSBC will be the first of Hong Kong s three currency-issuing banks to update investors on its performance for the January to March quarter on Tuesday, followed by Standard Chartered and Bank of China (Hong Kong) on Thursday. Other big banks in the city expected to report first-quarter results this week include Chinese lenders Bank of Communications, China Construction Bank, ICBC Asia and Singapore s DBS.