Peter Lee, chairman of Henderson Land Development was also one of the attendees in the above-mentioned video conference. He has pledged to donate HK$13 million to support the government’s anti-epidemic work, and to offer a 20-hectare site on Lam Kam Road in the New Territories for the government to build a makeshift hospital.  

Raymond Kwok, chairman and managing director of Sun Hung Kai Properties has promised to offer over 1,000 hotel rooms of his properties as isolation facilities. He also announced that he will be turning some of his malls, offices and other properties into vaccination sites.  

Richard Li, Pacific Century Group chairman and head of telecom company PCCW and local television station Viu TV, has also shown his support for the anti-pandemic fight. Besides appointing Hong Kong famous boy band Mirror as “anti-epidemic ambassadors” and inviting them to film a promotional video to encourage the public to stay home and fight the virus, Li will be offering 3,000 phone lines for the use of hotline of the Department of Health, as well as donating 100,000 rapid test kits and 100,000 food packages. 

Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing's namesake charitable institution, Li Ka Shing Foundation announced on Sunday that it will make a donation of HK$30 million to support private hospitals receiving non-Covid-19 patients, in an effort to relieve strain on the healthcare system. The foundation announced on Tuesday (February 22) it will donate another HK$10 million on top of the HK$30 million pledged earlier.

Don't miss: What You Need to Know About the Li Ka Shing Foundation

HSBC will be donating HK$100 million to bring relief to low-income households impacted by the pandemic. The bank also joined hands with Bright Smart Securities, Futu Securities, Ant Group and FTLife last week to offer testing kits and other assistance to the public.

David Liao, group managing director of HSBC Group and co-CEO of HSBC Asia Pacific, says: “We want to focus this donation on programmes that will help Hong Kong’s senior citizens and other vulnerable communities to ensure that their regular needs like medical treatments, household supplies will not be interrupted due to the Covid measures.”

“To make that happen, the Hongkong Bank Foundation has partnered with Hong Kong Red Cross to introduce Hong Kong Red Cross Covid-19 Support Hotline' to offer psychological support and health-related information to those having to quarantine. Test kits, food, household items and basic medicines will also be made available,” he added.  

Under the supervision of president and executive director Winnie Chiu, Dorsett Hospitality International is working closely with the Hong Kong government to combat the fifth wave of the virus. The hotel giant is providing 2,000 rooms across five of its hotels as community isolation facilities to help relieve the pressure on the public healthcare system.

On February 18, Dorsett Tsuen Wan was the first Hong Kong hotel to act as a community isolation facility, looking after asymptomatic patients. The rollout plan for the rest of the hotels is as follows:

• Community Isolation Facilities: Dorsett Tsuen Wan, Dorsett Kwun Tong, Dorsett Mongkok, Silka Tsuen Wan and Silka Seaview
  
  
• Quarantine Centres for Close Contacts: Cosmo Hotel Hong Kong and Silka Far East
  
  
• Designated Quarantine Hotels: Dorsett Wanchai and LKF Hotel @ Kau U Fong

“We hope this will open-up much-needed space in the hospital isolation wards and accelerate treatment for those in need of medical care,” says Chiu.

To ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of their guests and employees, Dorsett Hospitality International has arranged for its team to receive additional training and regular testing by the government. The hotel group has also installed full-body sanitisation stations at all hotels and is providing free at-home rapid antigen test kits for all staff and their families, as well as medical-grade personal protective equipment to ensure everybody’s complete safety. 

Elaine Chen-Fernandez, founder of The Wild Lot—an experimental space that is equal parts gallery, shop and events venue— is doing what she can to support the Hong Kong community. Using her platform to spread the word, Chen-Fernandez launched a donation drive for HandsOn Hong Kong, Refugee Union, Impact HK and Help For Domestic Workers HK.

This week, Chen-Fernandez and her team will be collecting donations from 12 pm-5 pm at their store location in Sheung Wan. The Wild Lot team are calling on the community to donate medical masks, hand sanitisers, Covid-19 test kits, blankets, dry foods and pet food to their shop on Shin Hing Street for further distribution to the charities in need.

For more information, click here.

Under the leadership of Sonia Cheng, Rosewood Hotel Group will be rolling out key initiatives to provide aid to those in need, under their programme Rosewood Empowers. These include tying up with:

• Hong Kong Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) to support the vulnerable elderly, single and young mothers. Rosewood will donate anti-pandemic packs to 600 single and young mothers in need served by the YWCA. In addition, Rosewood Hong Kong and New World Millennium Hong Kong Hotel will join forces to cook and distribute 1,800 meals to the elderly from 1 to 8 March 2022.
  
  
• Society for Community Organization (SOCO): A new partnership with SOCO will be launched to support subdivided flat families and cage-home residents. With over 400 families in dire need of pandemic supply kits, Rosewood will rally its associates and will match every donation made to ensure necessary support is given to the community.
  
  
• ImpactHK: Rosewood will continue to work with ImpactHK to provide a donation of non-perishable food supplies to support 200 homeless individuals per week.
  
  
• Pentahotel Kowlooon: This hotel will become a facility that will host mild-symptom Covid-19 patients.

 
In addition to this, the group will provide wellbeing support by partnering with the following NGOs:

• The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups (HKFYG) to support youth affected by the pandemic. Rosewood will donate HKD5,000 each to empower 100 Hong Kong teenagers from low-income backgrounds to initiate self or family improvement through a “Family Resilience Plus” programme.
  
  
• The Zubin Foundation to provide mental health services to ethnic minorities and particularly women. Rosewood will donate HKD500,000 to support “Call Mira”, a helpline for women and girls, which will be able to expand its capacity by 60% to meet escalating demand. In addition, online support groups and talk therapy will be offered to vulnerable ethnic minority youth.

“Through Rosewood Empowers, we wish to stand in solidarity with the community. We hope to stay true to our purpose by bringing relief to those most in need. We are here to support the local community through this unprecedented time,” says Sonia Cheng, chief executive officer of the Rosewood Hotel

Hypnotherapist and founder of Hong Kong’s All About You wellness clinic, Sonia Samtani is offering a hotline to provide support for people experiencing emotional distress in Hong Kong. The clinic's well-trained hypnotherapists are here to listen and share a few words of encouragement and advice to help you through the problems you're facing. 

Read more: Hypnotherapist Sonia Samtani: True Healing Begins in the Subconscious Mind

As the fifth wave of the pandemic continues, the demand for patients seeking hospitalisation also keeps climbing drastically. The construction of a mobile cabin hospital on the site in Fanling, which New World Development (NWD) has recently loaned to the government for free, has begun yesterday. Joining hands with the community in the fight against the virus, NWD hopes the latest act can help relieve the mounting pressure of Hong Kong’s public healthcare system.

NWD CEO Adrian Cheng said, “The fifth wave of COVID-19 is looking extremely challenging. In the spirit of Creating Shared Value (CSV), the Group will continue to closely monitor the needs of the community and we will do our best to provide the most essential support and care to those in need. As always, we will work together with the community to overcome the pandemic.”

The above-mentioned site is located in Ma Sik Road, Fanling, occupying an area of approximately 3.5 hectares. The land levelling work has previously been completed, with road connections, water, electricity and gas supply also in place. Following the loan, the government has promptly begun the construction work on new community isolation treatment facilities with the aim to relieve the pressure of the public healthcare system as quickly as possible.

Eaton Hong Kong introduces a community pantry for those in need. In collaboration with Give n Take, a community food shelf project, the shelf will be located at Eaton’s Gascoigne Road entrance and will be stocked with non-perishable food items which are free to take for those in need.

From 28 February, guests and passers-by alike are invited to donate staple kitchen cupboard items such as dried noodles, cooking oil and rice. Each item will be diligently checked by the Give n Take team to ensure food safety. Safety and hygiene remain a priority at Eaton. The Give n Take community shelf is located in a sheltered, open-air location and will be diligently sanitised every month.  The hotel will also become a dedicated donation drop-off point for Give n Take to further distribute donations across the Yau Tsim Mong District.

Klook has announced that it will provide the public with 100,000 rapid antigen test kits to further combat Hong Kong’s fifth wave. Fully committed to supporting the community during this crisis, Klook together with a number of social welfare organisations including the Hong Kong Christian Service, Christian Reeds, Wish Come True Foundation and the Foreign Labour Service Centre will send out rapid test kits to families, disadvantaged elderly, sick children, foreign domestic workers and frontline staff in order to ensure that people in need can receive appropriate assistance.

Klook is also releasing these kits free of charge on their platform, allowing citizens to get tested as soon as possible. Klook is also doing their part by providing special assistance to the Foreign Workers’ Service Centre to provide rapid test kits to assist foreign domestic workers in need.

Hong Kong’s local food supply has been severely impacted due to the unexpected surge of cases amongst staff in food preparation, logistics, and supply chains and NGOs are amongst the most severely impacted by this resurgence of the pandemic due to limited supply of food and lack of manpower.

This week, Norma Chu and her team at DayDayCook are collaborating with Good Food Movement to provide immediate relief to the elderly that are living alone in Hong Kong and to the elderly homes that are impacted by the pandemic. Under this programme, the company will deliver more than 15,000 hot meals to the Hong Kong Christian Service and the YWCA to support the elderly over the course of the next two months.

Period care company LUÜNA Naturals is rolling out The Save & Give Campaign to offer pads for community members who are struggling with limited access to these essential products amidst the pandemic. The company will be allocating 20% of every order on their website to provide organic cotton LUÜNA pads to people in urgent need through Teen's Key Hong Kong and Grassroots Future, with a goal of offering over 250 periods in the next two months. 

On March 14, global smart commerce platform Shopline launched a subsidy scheme to help SMEs survive during the pandemic.

Totalling up to HK$4 million, the latest subsidy programmes for merchants are Shopline's response to the needs of severely affected local businesses. The programmes include comprehensive assistance in advertising, customer service, logistics and payments to help merchants build their online presence, as well as free e-commerce services to help those forced to close due to social distancing rules move their business online. The subsidy scheme is now available for application to help SMEs capitalise on the new round of consumption vouchers releasing in April.

“The Hong Kong economy is facing exceptional challenges,” said Fiona Lau, co-founder and chief operating officer of Shopline. “With a mission of ‘empowering merchants to succeed everywhere’, we are launching the subsidy scheme to help local businesses stay afloat.

“It is proven that consumption vouchers make a positive impact on the city’s economy—according to our data, the Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) for Hong Kong merchants grew by 40% to 70% year-on-year, the total order volume also increased by 60% - 80%. This time, however, brick-and-mortar shops may not be able to benefit from this round’s consumption vouchers as the city is under the strictest social distancing restrictions. SMEs should act now to create their online presence by building an online store and integrating it with physical stores through seamless O2O solutions, not only to best capture the business opportunities from the consumption voucher scheme, but also to optimise operational efficiency and increase sales.”

With a surging demand for Covid-19 testing in the community, Sino Group and Ng Teng Fong Charitable Foundation have come together to donate 280,000 sets of rapid antigen test kits. The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) together with Sino Group’s volunteer team have distributed these test kits to the underprivileged, in the hopes of bettering the current Covid-19 situation.

Daryl Ng, deputy chairman of Sino Group and director of the Ng Teng Fong Charitable Foundation, says:  “The new wave of the pandemic is particularly challenging. The distribution of rapid antigen test kits hopes to bring extra protection. We would like to thank DAB for their prompt arrangement, together with the colleagues from Sino’s volunteer team, who are working to deliver the test kits to people in need within the shortest time. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the medical professionals, frontline and district volunteers who have been working tirelessly to keep our community safe during this period. We encourage the community to come together to fight COVID-19 together, and the best way to achieve this is through community-wide vaccination. For those yet to be vaccinated, I appeal to you to seek medical advice and get vaccinated as soon as possible.”

Elaine Kwok, managing director of Hauser & Wirth was amongst many of the high profile volunteers who took part in the initiative. “I wanted to help with the pandemic efforts and thanks to Daryl Ng, I joined his team in preparing rapid test kids for those in need. Sino Group has generously donated tens of thousands of these kits, but the tests need to be sorted into individual packs with Chinese instructions before distribution…I’m humbled to contribute something small in these difficult times,” Kwok said on Instagram. 

On February 23, Sino Group and its philanthropic arm, the Ng Teng Fong Charitable Foundation announced its partnership with the Hong Kong Council of Social Service (HKCSS) and the Social Welfare Department to distribute 500 Belun® remoVital remote monitoring systems to residential care homes. The systems will facilitate efficient monitoring and effective follow-ups of elderly and people with disabilities living in residential care homes and with mild Covid-19 symptoms. Distribution is on track to be completed by mid-March 2022. The home-grown innovation, will enable real-time monitoring of health conditions of patients.

Bernard Chan, Chairman of the HKCSS says: ‘The fifth wave of the COVID-19 epidemic situation is particularly challenging as many residents of the residential care homes who have tested positive are required to stay in the care homes. These homes make the best effort to provide appropriate care for these residents while preventing infection among other residents or staffers. The remote health monitoring system helps the care homes monitor patients’ health conditions, enabling them to provide timely support to the patients when necessary, and better protects the health of residents.”

On March 2, Sino Group's Ng Teng Fong Charitable Foundation announced that it will make a HK$5 million donation to the Hospital Authority to provide support to the paediatric services in the public hospitals, including the Hong Kong Children’s Hospital. With an aim of supporting child patients and their families, the donation will support the purchase of medical equipment, medicines, emergency assistance and anti-epidemic supplies.

NOW READ

The World's Most Covid-Resilient Countries

Prenetics Founder Danny Yeung on Helping Restore Normality During Covid-19

Mirror’s Ian Chan Fronts Prenetics’ New Campaign for Circle HealthPod