Bulletin No. 1, 2020

The Corona Chronicle 11 In Good Hands the handrub we made went to the hands of the elderly and the disadvantaged, who are most at risk of getting infected.’ Meanwhile, money, efforts and resources were pouring in from graduates heeding Professor Ng’s call. A former student of his got in touch and offered to donate non-alcohol disinfectants produced by his company to the NGOs. Sixty- seven medical graduates in the class of 2000 raised $33,500 for the purchase of raw materials and bottles, whereas Pricerite, run by an alumnus, also gave 10,000 bottles to the University. Two alumni associations—the Convocation of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Federation of Alumni Associations of the Chinese University of Hong Kong—played a huge part in reaching out. Four outreach sessions were arranged from late February to early March in Tin Shui Wai, Sham Shui Po and Ma On Shan that saw alumni and students producing handrub in the morning and giving it away in the afternoon. Long queues formed outside the distribution counters, with CUHK members approaching the elderly and the vulnerable to furnish them with the bottles of handmade sanitizer. A s the coronavirus menace raged on, the simple yet life-saving act of keeping our hands clean became uppermost in people’s minds. Immediately after the first blow of the virus to the city in late January, hand disinfectants became scarce and highly sought after. CUHK was swift to alleviate the shortage by producing 1,900 litres of 75% alcohol handrub to give to University units as well as the wider community. It was Prof. Dennis Ng , Pro-Vice-Chancellor and professor of the Department of Chemistry, who thought of mixing the much coveted liquid himself by making use of the labs and excellent facilities in the University. He enlisted his colleagues and students in the Department of Chemistry and also the University Safety Office to produce the solution. A video was shot of the production process, from the preparation of raw materials to mixing, filtering and bottling the handrub. It went viral, accruing a viewership of 230,000 within days. Many a non-governmental organization (NGO) called in to make queries, and the I ∤ CARE Centre for Whole- person Development helped line up 36 non-governmental partners to distribute the handrub to elderly homes, special schools and residential childcare centres. ‘We want to share even when supplies are low—that’s the spirit of giving we want to uphold,’ remarked Professor Ng. ‘Over half of Prof. Dennis Ng Pro-Vice-Chancellor Professor of the Department of Chemistry 1,900 Litres of alcohol handrub given to University units and the community