Last Saturday, police arrested two people, an Indian engineer and his girlfriend, for giving the authorities misleading and insufficient information about their contact history to health authorities after the Centre for Health Protection managed to trace the couple’s movements. They have both been charged with offences under the Prevention and Control of Disease Regulation. Interest in this case is high because the man who was charged entered Hong Kong from Dubai in March. He is the first person in Hong Kong to be confirmed as having the N501Y variant of the Covid-19 virus. His girlfriend contracted the same variant. Fears of the spread of this variant by their contacts led to more than 2,000 people being placed in quarantine. With us to talk about the mutant strains and the government’s quarantine arrangements are Gilman Siu of the Department of Health Technology and Informatics at Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Paul Zimmerman, district councillor of Southern District, representing the Pokfulam constituency.

March 21 was the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. This year, the Equal Opportunities Commission and Caritas held an online forum, “Looking Beyond the Pandemic” to talk about racial equality, inclusion, and the impact of Covid-19 on Hong Kong’s ethnic minorities. Those taking part in the seminar said there’s still a lot to be done to bridge racial divides in Hong Kong. Fears over the spread of Covid-19 among domestic helpers, and the government’s initial insistence on mandatory tests and vaccinations for foreign domestic helpers have led to accusations of racial discrimination.