A Hong Kong health official who has been leading COVID-19 news conferences almost every day since the outbreak began in January was notably absent over the weekend.
According to Apple Daily, Chuang Shuk-kwan’s husband died from brain cancer on Sunday morning.
Chuang is the head of the Center for Health Protection’s communicable disease branch and has become a familiar face amid Hong Kong’s fight against the epidemic.
For more than 10 months, Chuang has provided updates on the state of the city’s outbreak at a 4:30pm daily press conference. During the hour-long session, she rattles off figures on the day’s increase in COVID-19 cases and patiently fields questions from reporters pressing for a good soundbite.
From January to April, Chuang gave press conferences for 72 days straight, including on weekends and over the Chinese New Year.
In a press conference in late March, one reporter asked Chuang how long she had not taken a holiday, and if there were colleagues who could take her place so that she could rest. Chuckling slightly as she responded, Chuang said that there are others in the health department working longer hours than she is and thanked the public for their concern.
The past weekend marks the first time that Chuang was not present at the press conference.
Chuang’s level-headed performance at press conferences has earned her praise among Hongkongers, who have even created a Facebook fan page dedicated to her. The group, which changed its cover photo to a picture of a candle last night, has close to 8,000 members. Facebook users left messages of condolences to Chuang and her family on the page.
Her late husband, Charles Yu, was a dentist. According to The Standard, Yu had been staying at the Prince of Wales Hospital since early this year, around the time that COVID-19 began spreading in Hong Kong. Chuang was reportedly shuttling between the office and the hospital to care for her husband.
His condition took a recent turn for the worst as his cancer reached its final stage. Yu, who passed in the hospital’s intensive care unit yesterday morning, was survived by his wife and their two daughters.
