Owner of AbouThai hopes to open a face mask production line in Hong Kong with help from Li Ka Shing Foundation

The well-known “yellow” (pro-movement) business, AbouThai, obtains thousands of boxes of face masks from Thailand today, which attracted long queues. The business has reserved a portion of masks for Hospital Authority frontline health care workers and border control staff (including those from Customs Department, Immigration Department and the Department of Health). 

Shop owner, Mike Lam, had worked in customs before. He follows current affairs and politics closely, and has posted on social media on 11 June 2019 in support of the shopkeepers' strike the next day. "Since the beginning of January, when I saw how the epidemic was unravelling with the lack of supply of face masks among general public, I had already started to increase my inventory,” said Mike, in his interview with Hong Kong Citizen News.

"My company sells Thai products and Thailand also exports face masks. I hope that I can help Hong Kongers, particularly frontline health care workers and frontline workers at the borders. As an entrepreneur, I need to fulfill my social responsibility." He mentioned that at earlier on when supply was still adequate, he had provided masks to individual district council members to meet the needs of the community. But nowadays, it is much more difficult to secure a sufficient supply of masks. 

Mike said he normally gets his masks from different Thai suppliers. As the virus started to spread, “every supplier is now facing an increase in global demand. Many places around the world are experiencing a shortage surgical face masks for various reasons. I am queueing up as well. The fact that I managed to get hold of a large supply today is probably just luck,” he explained.

Mike knew about some low-income families in Hong Kong who have been washing their masks and reusing them. "I cannot accept that this is happening in a world-class city. This is worse than the third world. How can the government find this acceptable?” He is not certain when the next shipment of masks will come. "It is difficult to say. Even friends working in the disciplined services, in Hospital Authority and my family are all lacking face masks."

The 13 shops in the AbouThai chain were each given a quota of 300 boxes of masks (a total of 3,900 boxes for all 13 shops) this morning. Each person can purchase one box (50 each) at $49. There were long queues at every shop this morning. 

Having seen the shortage of face mask worsened, Mike was hoping that he could contact the Li Ka Shing Foundation to obtain funds or a loan to set up a factory for manufacturing face masks. "If I have $100 million, I can open up a production line immediately. I have estimated that the number of masks produced could meet the needs of 7 million citizens for two months, with an average production cost of $0.24 each. If so, everyone, regardless of their social class, can buy masks at a reasonable price to ensure health and safety."

He stressed that any prevention is a passive measure. “An active measure against the pandemic would be the government fully closing the borders,” he said. Is it too late? "It cannot wait. It needs to be done now. If you close the border just one second sooner, then it could prevent another person from getting infected.”

Source: Hong Kong Citizen News, January 29, 2020
https://bit.ly/3bkU1jd

#AbouThai #YellowEconomyCircle #Mask

An average Hong Konger has about 17 days worth of masks in their reserves. #mask

#Mask #WARS #AppleDaily #English #WuhanCoronavirus

#HongKongPolice #Mask
Police not wearing mask properly while stationing at quarantine camp

The SAR Government has finally sent charter flights to evacuate stranded Hong Kong citizens in China's epicenter Wuhan. The returnees will be quarantined in Fo Tan's Chun Yeung Estate, a brand new public housing estate where the actual tenants were denied in last minute after the government forcefully turned the place into a quarantine camp.

Perhaps 'unafraid' of the spread of the virus, a police officer with his mask pulled down was sighted smoking with his colleague at the quarantine camp.

Source: Stand News
https://www.facebook.com/710476795704610/posts/2901517329933868/

#Mar5 #ChinesePenumonia #GlobalOutbreak #ChunYeungEstate

#Mask
Innovation and technology chief: Masks Distributed by Government Look Like Underwear

The government has announced that they are going to distribute reusable CuMask to all Hong Kong residents. Alfred Sit, the new secretary for innovation and technology, admits CuMask looks like underwear in the program of Commercial Radio Hong Kong.

According to Dr.Ho Pak Leung, a infectious disease expert from the University of Hong Kong, the reusable masks shall not be used when

1) going to hospitals, clinics and elderly homes;

2) getting fever or with respiratory symptoms;

3) classified a confiner, especially home confinees and household members ;

4) diagnosed with novel coronavirus or suspected cases ,and those with close contact.

Source: Mingpao #May6

French President shows that masks can look chic

Macron used the school visit as an opportunity to promote the use of cloth masks among the general public. The fashionable design of the mask he donned "mades mask-wearing an act of national pride", as the Associated Press suggests. The mask, embellished with the French Tricolour, is 100% made in France by the local manufacturer Chanteclair at a cost of less than 5 euros (HK $42).

While the reusable masks in Hong Kong are produced at a similar cost, the masks are described by citizens to "resemble underwear". It was further uncovered that the masks were produced without following the usual procurement rules and some technical descriptions were misleading and inaccurate.

#France #HongKong #mask

Sources:
Associated Press, 5 May
https://apnews.com/fe461ecbffacb67c747a3234300c90de

L'Est Eclair (French), 6 May
https://www.lest-eclair.fr/id148803/article/2020-05-06/pourquoi-macron-choisi-un-masque-chanteclair

RTHK, 6 May
https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/componen

#Court #Censorship
Hong Kong Court Asks Man to Change Mask With Suspected Protest Iconography

#CarolNg, former chairperson of Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (#HKCTU) and one of the “#NSL47”, has been remained under custody. She has requested bail on #Dec20, 2021 to the High Court, and the application was processed by Esther Toh Lye Ping, one of the designated judges for any #NationalSecurityLaw-related cases.

A court observer have worn a yellow and black mask with the #Bible verse (Amos 5:24), “But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream,” embroidered on it.

He was denied entry by security and court personnel under orders of the judge, and demanded that he change his mask before he would be allowed entry. They have not explained their reasons behind this act.

The observer was disgruntled by the request, and questioned, “If my clothes were not allowed in court, do I have to take them off them too?”

A similar incident also happened on #Dec17, 2021, when former head of the English edition of Apple Daily #LoFung (Fung Wai-kwong) requested bail.

Before the hearing began, Toh, through her secretary and Bailiffs, required observers wearing yellow masks or wearing hoodies with yellow umbrella insignias to change into “more appropriate” clothing, or be led away from the courtroom.

Some observers have questioned the requirement, questioning that those were “unsuitable” clothing, to which the Chief Bailiff stated, “it is inappropriate,” without further explaination.

Source: InMedia #Dec20

https://bit.ly/3slkoAG

#Mask #Injustice #Save47