In recent months, Hong Kong has been facing the fifth wave of COVID-19, the worst outbreak ever. Even though people in Hong Kong have strong hearts, we still feel anxious. Instead of living in fear of the unknown, leading to anxiety and cumulative stress, we should prepare both physically and mentally, learn about the disease and symptoms, strengthen our physical health, support family and friends with a positive attitude, and encourage ourselves as well as others. That way, even if we unfortunately contract the virus, we can still be in the best shape to fight it off.

To fight against the pandemic with everyone together, HKU SPACE held a series of online talks in March featuring many experts, including Dr Joseph Tsang, Infectious Diseases Specialist, the Venerable Chang Lin, Dr Susan Chung, Registered Dietitian, Tsui Sze Ho, Registered Chinese Medicine Practitioner, and Dr Yip Tan, Registered Chinese Medicine Practitioner at the Chinese Medicine Clinics and Pharmacy at HKU SPACE, to share their wisdom and expertise from the perspectives of western medicine, healthy mind, nutrition, and Chinese medicine, to face and fight the pandemic together with us.

Debunk COVID-19 myths, be like water and find peace

It has been over a year since the launch of the COVID-19 Vaccination Programme, but many people still do not know much about vaccination. In the “All you need to know to cope with COVID” talk, Dr Joseph Tsang explained the precautions of vaccination in more detail, discussed if vaccinations can be taken by those who already had COVID, why we should get a second booster or fourth jab, what we should do if someone in our family gets COVID, and explained what drugs or treatments we can buy over the counter to help ease the symptoms, as well as which drugs we should not take; debunking different COVID-19 myths for us.

Water is an essential element for human survival and something we must learn from in our daily lives. Water looks soft and fragile, but it contains unlimited potential. Water is formless and shapeless, it turns into ice or snow when it is cold; it evaporates and turns into clouds when it’s heated, and then rains down to nurture all things on earth. When we are in a crisis, we can still find peace regardless of the circumstances if we just be like water, handle issues with a flexible attitude, utilise our potential, and make timely adjustments. In the “Be like water and find peace” talk, the Venerable Chang Lin shared his insights into how we can learn from water and stay calm in the midst of chaos.

A dietitian and a Chinese medicine practitioner teach you how to boost immunity through diet

Amid an outbreak, whether you are a healthy individual, a patient with mild or severe symptoms, staying at home, in isolation, or already recovered, undoubtedly one of the most followed topics is how to increase immunity, prevent onset symptoms, accelerate the recovery, and protect your health and energy through daily diet.

In the “A dietitian and a Chinese medicine practitioner teach you how to boost immunity through diet” talk, Dr Susan Chuang explained from a nutritional standpoint that having supplements does not necessarily increase immunity. While eating the right things can definitely help, eating the wrong things will weaken immunity. In the day-to-day diet, foods like grains, meat, fruit, vegetables, and dairy products all contain nutrients that improve and strengthen our immunity, such as protein, Vitamin A, C, D, and minerals like zinc and iron, all of which are essential for the human body. On the other hand, excessively consuming sugar, salt, and having too much deep fried, high fat, and processed foods will increase the risk of cancer and damage the body’s immune system. 

In Chinese medicine, COVID-19 is considered an infectious evil-qi, and whether one will have onset symptoms mostly depends on vital-qi of the human body. The treatment principles are: treat the heat with cold, and treat the cold with heat; supplement when there is a deficiency, and purge when there is excess. Chinese medicine practitioner, Tsui Sze Ho, shared his knowledge of how to use Chinese medicinal meals to increase our immunity, whether ginseng and cordyceps can prevent and treat the virus, dietary restrictions for COVID patients, and the common misconceptions about proprietary Chinese medicine. She also shared some simple recipes of disease-preventing herbal tea and qi-augmenting & lung-tonifying decoction, helping us to fight against the pandemic and protect our health.

Chinese Medicine eHealth Talk: Thinking and treatments in traditional Chinese medicine for COVID

The fifth wave of COVID-19 is raging, and the number of positive cases continues to rise. Some medicines on the market that relieve cold symptoms have been sold out, including “LianHua QingWen Capsules”. Can proprietary Chinese medicine actually prevent diseases? Senior Chinese medicine practitioner, Dr Yip Tan, explained the errors in that line of thinking in the “Chinese Medicine eHealth Talk” and shared effective measures in coping with COVID-19 using traditional Chinese medicine. Yip also shared a few recipes of preventive prescriptions and post-recovery healing soups, working against this pandemic alongside everyone, especially frontline healthcare workers.

Enhanced anti-epidemic measures at HKU SPACE

Since the COVID-19 breakout in 2019, HKU SPACE has launched different pandemic prevention measures to minimise the risk of transmission among learning centres and offices, to ensure the safety of the HKU SPACE community. Effective as of January 17, 2022, HKU SPACE followed HKU policy and introduced enhanced anti-COVID measures in accordance with the government’s public and health policies. We require all staff and students, other than those medically exempted, to be vaccinated to enter the School premises. The measures are put in place to protect everyone’s safety, and the most effective way to safeguard against the threat of COVID-19. Feel free to check the "HKU SPACE 2019 COVID-19 INFO HUB" webpage (https://hkuspace.hku.hk/covid-19-info) to keep up-to-date with the latest epidemic prevention information.

Nursing teachers and students of HKU SPACE fight against COVID-19 together with Lok Sin Tong

In addition, the Social Welfare Department has set up respite care centres for the elderly at Shek Kip Mei Park Sports Centre and Wan Chai District Harbour Road Sports Centre respectively, receiving elderly people and providing them with nursing care services. These elderly people are diagnosed COVID-19 positive but with mild symptoms. From 1 April this year, the School has provided full support to the two Lok Sin Tong operated respite care centres, and assigned 7 senior nursing tutors and 24 prospective registered nursing students (currently enrolled nurses) to provide better-quality front-line nursing services, and to ensure that the elderly can receive more comprehensive care, letting the elderly and their families feel at ease during the pandemic.