We know what you did last February

Parts of the mainland really are more hi-tech than anywhere, I learned yesterday.

A Hongkonger working at a school in Guangzhou told me that the health authorities work really hard to check whether you may have overlapped with a virus-carrier.

"When you enter a building, they tap into your phone and use WeChat to review your movements over the past three months," he said.

A bit more thorough than the quick temperature scan you get at building entrances in Hong Kong.

Another reader said: "In mainland China, when they deliver a pizza, they also give you the body temperature of the chef who cooked it and the delivery man who delivered it."

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I had a Zoom conversation yesterday with my friend Florence Au, a Hongkonger who is studying at a monastery in Canada. She said the "sisters" of the order have suddenly found everyone wanting to pick their brains. "Monastics are very good at giving advice to people in isolation," she said.

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Reader Angus Mackillop heard his daughter Jean, 16, shouting: "Dad! Dad! The toilet is smoking." He ran to the room in question to see the pictured scene.

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Odd how the international media's dramatic reports about Covid-19 deaths often don't hold up to scrutiny, several readers remarked.

A survey in Italy revealed that 88 percent of the people listed as having died OF the new coronavirus actually died WITH the coronavirus - which is not the same thing at all.

"On one news story the BBC listed the death of a 105-year-old person as being due to the virus!" said reader Tony Tobin.

The report admitted that the victim had an "underlying condition." Surely being many years past your allotted lifespan is in itself an underlying condition?

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The Hong Kong government announced that people should "avoid meal gatherings" during their grave-sweeping duties. Have residents been picnicking over their grandparents' bones?

They also expressed worry about grave sweepers accidentally blowing themselves up. That one rang a bell with a resident of Pok Fu Lam, where cemetery fires are already too frequent.

"This year, everyone is carrying vast amounts of alcohol-rich sanitizing liquids gels," he said. "And then lighting incense sticks and candles. Kaboom!"

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"Working from home is all well and good," said a reader from the design industry. "Except my body seems to have decided that my job is to be the food chain."

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Hong Kong police warned that they can hit you with an instant HK$2,000 fine if they catch you socializing in public.

At the same time, a medical journal warned that there was an unusually high prevalence of schizophrenia in Hong Kong.

So if you're feeling lonely, go party with the voices in your head.

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A Hong Kong couple went out to the park in Kowloon Tong to find there were only 10 other people there, all spread out to get a bit of fresh air.

"Then one person sneezed, and all 12 of us instantly replaced or tightened our masks," he said.

One prankster, aged 14, likes to put pepper in his parents' masks.

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"It's shocking how some people are refusing to take their work home with them," said a reader who did not wish his name to be printed. "Like the part-time domestic helper I hired to look after my children."

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