SARS: ‘It's as bad as we feared but dared not say’

English Today ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
JENNIFER EAGLETON
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
Death Rate ◽  
English Language ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Blank Screen ◽  
South China Morning ◽  
The World ◽  
The City ◽  
Close Contacts

IN 2003, a health crisis took place that severely tested Hong Kong, among a number of other parts of the world, with at 15 June a death toll in the city of 295 (out of 1,755 cases). Schools were closed, an apartment block was quarantined, and businesses suffered as people stayed home. Because no one at that time knew much about what came to be called ‘severe acute respiratory syndrome’ (shortened to both SARS and Sars), the disease offered a ‘blank screen’ onto which various fears could be projected. It seemed to spread directly to close contacts – but airborne contagion could not be ruled out. The death rate was under five percent, but there was a possibility that it could become more virulent. It might turn out like any other flu-like illness, or like the 1918 flu pandemic that killed millions. In addition, it was the perfect mechanism for Hong Kong to project its current uncertainties over its image and place in the world. Thus, the ‘pragmatic handling’ of this event in the major English language newspaper of the city, the South China Morning Post, holds much linguistic interest. The SCMP is a major English-language newspaper in East Asia.

scholarly journals Coronavirus Pandemic: a major public health crisis for the developed and developing world

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (03) ◽  
pp. 366-369
Author(s):  
Rooh Ullah ◽  
Muhammad Suleman Rana ◽  
Mehmood Qadir ◽  
Muhammad Usman ◽  
Niaz Ahmed
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
Viral Infection ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Public Health Crisis ◽  
The World ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
Day By Day

Pandemic of novel Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections in China is now become global public health crisis. At present 87.64% of the world is infected by this deadly illness. The risk from this epidemic depends on the nature of the virus, including how well it transmits from person to person, and the complications resulting from this current illness. The novel coronavirus has killed thousands of people in China and other countries as well; its rate of mortality is increasing day by day. There is an urgent need to control the virus by developing vaccine or any other antiviral drugs to save the world from this deadly viral infection.

scholarly journals Criteria for removing WHO travel warnings in relation to SARS - outcome of discussions between Hong Kong and World Health Organization

2003 ◽  
Vol 7 (19) ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
World Health Organization ◽  
World Health ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization

During a videoconference between Geneva and Hong Kong on 6 May, the World Health Organization (WHO) thanked the Hong Kong Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food for Hong Kong's continuing efforts at containing severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). WHO thanked the Health Secretary in particular for allowing a Malaysian ship to enter the port recently with suspected SARS cases on board.

scholarly journals Methods of Diagnosis a Preferential Advantage in COVID-19: A Mini Review

2021 ◽  
pp. 173-179
Author(s):  
Neha Saini ◽  
Prem Pandey ◽  
Mandar Shirolkar ◽  
Atul Kulkarni
Keyword(s):  
Polymerase Chain Reaction ◽  
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
Review Article ◽  
Diagnostic Methods ◽  
Rt Pcr ◽  
Chain Reaction ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
The World ◽  
Polymerase Chain ◽  
Novel Coronavirus

Humanity is going through never seen before health crisis due to the outbreak of novel coronavirus or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). There are 24.02 million cases and 0.82 million deaths worldwide as of 26th August 2020 due to deadly infection of COVID-19. The disease has been spreading exponentially (R-naught number: 3) and has challenged even the best healthcare infrastructure in the world. With the progression of the disease, the countries shifted the focus from cure to diagnosis and containment to flatten the curve. The review shows that the disease is spreading exponentially while the resources are still limited. We focus upon the probable vectors of the virus, different diagnostic methods with advantages & limitations, and the way forward. This review article covers the different diagnostic methods with more advantages, limitations, and the future sneak-peek into the forthcoming developments for the diagnostic processes such as RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription Polymerase chain reaction).

scholarly journals From Cyberpunk to Cramped Dweller: The Peculiar History of Hong Kong ‘Heterotopias’

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel McCoy
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Living Arrangements ◽  
Grey Zone ◽  
Urban Centers ◽  
Self Sufficiency ◽  
Spatial Management ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Planning Department ◽  
The City

75.6% of land comprising Hong Kong remains undeveloped according to the special administrative region’s planning department. In turn, Hong Kong’s constricted real estate, now estimated to be the world’s costliest, has created eye-popping living arrangements historically and contemporarily. Denizens’ colorful reputation and imagination for flouting city ordinances, zoning laws, and spatial management stand emblematic of tenacious self-sufficiency and a free-spirited brand of runaway capitalist initiative. Why is this conspicuous trademark of Hong Kong’s societal fabric very much alive in the 21st Century? Why does this matter in a rapidly urbanizing world witnessing the ascension of mega-urban centers alongside ever-widening socioeconomic chasms? This paper intends to illuminate the peculiar origins and longevity of the Kowloon Walled City, an urban monolith of notoriety and autonomy that blossomed in a semi-legal grey zone unencumbered under British protectorate rule for nearly a century. Parallels will connect the linear trajectory between Kowloon’s hardnosed living to today’s comparable Chungking Mansions and the hundreds of thousands of cage homes appearing in all corners of the city. This paper aims to answer why these residential paradoxes continue to function with efficiency and relevancy, posing solutions for indigent housing while exacerbating the stigma of social and economic ostracism.

scholarly journals Tuntutan Kemahiran Komunikasi Antarpribadi dalam Profesi: Perspektif Hongkong dan Indonesia

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tjipta Lesmana
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Public Relations ◽  
Interpersonal Communication ◽  
Communication Skills ◽  
Communication Skill ◽  
New Employees ◽  
South China Morning ◽  
The World ◽  
British Colony ◽  
World Class

Abstract: Hong Kong is widely acknowledged as one of the busiest financial and economic center in the world. Hundreds of world-class companies establish their representative offices in this former British colony. For the effectiveness of their operations, the companies, using newspaper advertisement, actively recruits intelligent and smart employees. Current research was designed to investigate how companies appreciate interpersonal communication skills when hiring new employees announced in the advertisements. Content of weekend edition of South China Morning Post, called “Classified Post” (about 100 pages), was scrutinized. To gain a little insight of the same phenomenon in Indonesia some editions of “Klasika” section of daily Kompas was analyzed. It was found that awareness of interpersonal communication skill, in general, was fairly high in the case of Hong Kong (38.2%), but only 9.83% for Indonesia. The top two professions in Hong Kong requiring this skill was public relations official (38.1%) and sale persons (32%). In the case of Indonesia, it was secretary and finance officials.

scholarly journals Geography and covid-19: reflections from the evolution of the pandemic in Uberlândia, Brazil

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Josimar dos Reis de Souza ◽  
Tatiana Silva Souza ◽  
Beatriz Ribeiro Soares
Keyword(s):  
First Year ◽  
Theoretical Discussion ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Virus Identification ◽  
Rapid Spread ◽  
The World ◽  
Current Scenario ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The City

From the complex sanitary moment faced by Brazil, related to COVID-19, in particular due to the collapse of the health system that has occurred in medium-sized cities, this article aimed to analyze the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic in Uberlândia, according to reflections from geographic science, in order to help to understand the facts that led to the current scenario of the disease in the city. To achieve the objective, we carried out a theoretical discussion about how Geography faces recent events, especially in relation to the role of the Globalization process, both in the dissemination of information about the emergence of COVID-19 and other events, as well as in the rapid spread of the virus around the world. Based on these reflections, we analyzed the evolution of the pandemic, using data provided by the Municipality of Uberlândia and the Ministry of Health, with a cut-off date of March 18, 2021, in order to understand the chronological path of the facts. The choice for this cut-off date for data clipping is justified by our intention to analyze the first year of virus identification in the municipality. The results showed the negative evolution of the pandemic in the city, mainly over the months of February and March 2021, with 100% of the ICU beds occupied, which demonstrates the complexity and the long way to go to overcome this health crisis.

scholarly journals The Currency of Historicity in Hong Kong: Deconstructing Nostalgia through Soy Milk

2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 145-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine S. Chan
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World ◽  
Asian Tigers ◽  
Tv Commercials ◽  
The City ◽  
Second World ◽  
General Criticism

In the 1980s, as the end of the millennium approached, the production of nostalgia exploded all around the world. For Hong Kong, nostalgia became a reminder of the golden age that had transformed the city into one of the “Four Asian Tigers” in the decades following the end of the Second World War. While yearning for the better days of the past, Hong Kong coincidentally experienced destabilisation. As the rest of the world, especially the “baby boomers,” mourned the end of a productive era, Hong Kong locals were disturbed by the affirmation of the handover to China in 1997. In the context of these events, a creative rush to nostalgia in cultural manufacturing swept across the city. In the hope of highlighting the uniqueness of nostalgic production in Hong Kong, this study analyses two sets of TV commercials produced by local beverage company Vitasoy. Through the deconstruction of selected historical events, Vitasoy successfully reinvented its brand and, in contrast to general criticism of the concept, generated a positive connotation for nostalgia on the path towards Hong Kong's search for an identity.

Media portrayals of the Hong Kong Occupy Central Movement’s social actors

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet Ho ◽  
Ming Ming Chiu
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
English Language ◽  
Emotional Valence ◽  
Media Portrayals ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
South China Morning ◽  
The Government ◽  
Occupy Central ◽  
Rhetorical Questions

Abstract We investigated how two English-language newspapers – Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post (SCMP) and the mainland China Daily (CD) – portrayed key social actors (police, students, protesters, and governments) during the Occupy Central/Yellow Umbrella movement. We examined emotional valence, arousal, and dominance characterizations in 1,180 news articles via a multilevel, multivariate outcome regression and critical discourse analysis. The findings reveal that emotional sentiments associated with students and protesters in SCMP were generally more positive than in CD but that this was reversed for the police and the government. Whereas SCMP deployed personal stories to construct a humanized image of protesters and students, CD relied on expert authority, rhetorical questions, and imagined scenarios to convey empathy towards Hong Kong residents, creating a villainized image of protesters. Our mixed-methods approach reveals how SCMP and CD portrayed students differently via the discursive frames of “optimistic dreamers” and “powerless scapegoats,” respectively.

Reading the city via the public central library in the sociocultural context: A comparative study between the Hong Kong Central Library, Shanghai Library and Taipei Public Library

2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 458-472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Lo ◽  
Kevin K.W. Ho ◽  
Bradley Allard ◽  
Shih-Chang Horng ◽  
Yan Liu
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Public Library ◽  
Sociocultural Context ◽  
Community Members ◽  
The Public ◽  
The World ◽  
Community Spaces ◽  
The City

Public libraries across the world are well-known for the promotion of literacy and lifelong learning. However, at the same time, they are important social and community spaces in which community members can engage with each other. With this in mind, this study looks at the ways in which public libraries in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong fulfil these roles in their respective communities. The public libraries chosen for this study were namely: Shanghai Library, Taipei Public Library and Hong Kong Central Library. A total number of 788 responses were collected from all three libraries. Results from the surveys indicated that public libraries in these communities were seen as being important for providing cost-free materials, entertainment, and, especially, contributing to the overall culture of the community at large. Results indicated that the public libraries chosen for this study have social and cultural values alongside its function as an information centre. These findings will be important in understanding the sociocultural roles of public libraries in East Asia.

scholarly journals Loss of Smell and Taste: Potential of Using Them as Markers for Early Detection of Covid-19

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Early Detection ◽  
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
Virus Disease ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Viral Disease ◽  
Human Race ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Corona Virus ◽  
The World

The world is currently witnessing a severe health crisis of its time. Everyone is juggling and struggling to fight a viral disease named Covid-19 (Corona virus disease 2019) caused by SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2). The genome of newly identified virus is less than 30,000 letters long where pathogenesis involve from being asymptomatic to deadly in all age groups. Almost everybody is at a grave risk in such an unpredictable scenario where range of symptoms are so variable from people to people making this pandemic a threat to human race.

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