The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     The spokesperson for Siu Lam Hospital made the following announcement today (July 26):
 
     Six patients (aged 20 to 44) and a staff member in a female ward for severe intellectual disability presented with respiratory symptoms since July 21. Appropriate viral tests were arranged for the patients and their test results were positive for Rhinovirus. The patients concerned are being treated under isolation. One patient is in serious condition while the other five are in stable condition. The staff member has recovered and resumed duty.
 
     Admission to the ward has been suspended and restricted visiting has been imposed. Infection control measures have already been stepped up according to established guidelines. All other patients in the ward are under close surveillance.
 
     The cases have been reported to the Hospital Authority Head Office and the Centre for Health Protection for necessary follow-up.

The following is issued on behalf of the Board of Trustees of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Music and Dance Fund:
 
     The Hong Kong Jockey Club Music and Dance Fund held a ceremony today (July 26) to award scholarships, totalling $4.14 million, to 13 young talents to support them to pursue studies in music or dance in Hong Kong, the US, the UK, the Netherlands and Belgium. In particular, the Fund was delighted to award a scholarship to the youngest awardee in the history of the Fund, Miss Hannah Tam, aged 13, who will pursue her diploma studies in violin in the US. 
 
     The 13 awardees are Mr Tony Chan, Mr Alvin Chan, Miss Cheryl Chan, Mr Chan Wai-lok, Mr Sirius Chau, Mr Zach Cheong, Mr James Koo, Miss Eugene Kwong, Mr Kelvin Ng, Mr Herman Pong, Mr Shing Chun-hay, Miss Hannah Tam and Miss Esther Wu. Eleven of them attended the scholarship award ceremony. They thanked the Fund for its support, shared their thoughts and committed themselves to making the best use of their opportunity to pursue further studies in Hong Kong or abroad.

     Also attending the ceremony were the Board Chairman of the Fund, Dr Pang King-chee; the Head of Charities (Grant Making – Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture) of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, Ms Rhoda Chan; the Principal Assistant Secretary for Home Affairs, Ms Sandy Cheung; Board Members of the Fund Mr Philip Kan, Dr Qin Rong and Ms Selina Tsang; and the Chairperson of the music audition panel, Professor Sharon Choa.

     Dr Pang congratulated the awardees and praised their artistic talents. He also thanked the contributions of the two audition panel chairmen and members of the music and dance pre-screening and audition panels.

     The Fund was set up in 1980 with a $10 million donation from the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust for the promotion and development of music and dance education and training in Hong Kong. In 1994, a further capital injection of $22 million was provided by the Jockey Club to meet increasing demand for financial support. In 2014, the Jockey Club approved additional funding support of over $16 million for the Fund to implement a six-year pilot project, which included the launching of a local postgraduate scholarship scheme in addition to the well-established non-local studies scholarship scheme, as well as the setting up of an awardees association for the scholarship recipients of the Fund. To date the Fund has awarded 327 scholarships amounting to about $64.9 million.

  

     The Home Affairs Department will open 18 temporary night heat shelters tonight (July 26) for people in need of the service.
      
     The shelters will be open from 10.30pm until 8am tomorrow.

     For further information, please call the department's enquiries hotline before midnight on 2835 1473.
      
     The 18 night heat shelters are located at:
 
Hong Kong Districts:
———————
 
Central and Western –
Sai Ying Pun Community Complex Community Hall
3/F, Sai Ying Pun Community Complex
2 High Street, Sai Ying Pun
 
Eastern/Wan Chai –
Causeway Bay Community Centre
Waiting Lobby, 3/F, 7 Fook Yum Road, Causeway Bay
 
Southern –
Lei Tung Community Hall
Lei Tung Estate, Ap Lei Chau
 
Kowloon Districts:
——————
 
Kowloon City –
Hung Hom Community Hall
Multi-purpose Room, 1/F, Kowloon City Government Offices
42 Bailey Street, Hung Hom
 
Kwun Tong –
Lam Tin (West) Estate Community Centre
71 Kai Tin Road, Lam Tin
 
Sham Shui Po –
Shek Kip Mei Community Hall
G/F, Block 42, Shek Kip Mei Estate
Nam Cheong Street, Sham Shui Po

Wong Tai Sin –
Tsz Wan Shan (South) Estate Community Centre
Hall, G/F, 45 Wan Wah Street, Tsz Wan Shan
 
Yau Tsim Mong –
Henry G Leong Yaumatei Community Centre
60 Public Square Street, Yau Ma Tei
 
New Territories Districts:
————————–
 
Islands –
Tung Chung Community Hall
G/F, Tung Chung Municipal Services Building,
39 Man Tung Road, Tung Chung
 
Kwai Tsing –
Kwai Shing Community Hall
Podium, Block 6, Kwai Shing West Estate, Kwai Chung
 
North –
Cheung Wah Community Hall
Cheung Wah Estate, Fanling
 
Sai Kung –
Hang Hau Community Hall
G/F, Sai Kung Tseung Kwan O Government Complex,
38 Pui Shing Road, Hang Hau, Tseung Kwan O
 
Sha Tin –
Lung Hang Estate Community Centre
Lung Hang Estate, Sha Tin
 
Tai Po –
Tai Po Community Centre
2 Heung Sze Wui Street, Tai Po
 
Tsuen Wan –
Lei Muk Shue Community Hall
G/F, Hong Shue House, Lei Muk Shue Estate, Tsuen Wan
 
Tuen Mun –
Butterfly Bay Community Centre
Butterfly Estate (near Tip Sum House), Tuen Mun
 
Yuen Long –
Long Ping Community Hall
Long Ping Estate, Yuen Long
 
Yuen Long –
Tin Yiu Community Centre
Tin Yiu Estate, Tin Shui Wai
      
     The temporary night heat shelters will resume their functions as either community centres or community halls in the daytime for hire by the local community and cannot continue to be open as heat shelters. People may choose to take refuge from the heat during the daytime in the common areas in any of the 21 designated community centres or community halls. Their opening hours are from 9am to 10pm. For addresses of the community centres or community halls, please browse the following webpage: www.had.gov.hk/file_manager/en/documents/public_services/emergency_services/List_CH_CC_Day_E.pdf

     The Government announced today (July 26) that, notwithstanding the new statutory tolls of the Western Harbour Crossing (WHC) and Route 3 (Country Park Section) (Route 3) coming into effect on July 31 and August 1 respectively, the current actual toll levels payable by motorists will remain unchanged as the tunnel companies will continue to offer concessions to all types of vehicles.
 
     The toll adjustment mechanisms for the WHC and Route 3 are specified in the Western Harbour Crossing Ordinance (Cap. 436) and the Tai Lam Tunnel and Yuen Long Approach Road Ordinance (Cap. 474) respectively. The franchisees of the WHC and Route 3 can effect statutory toll increases under the law if the companies' actual net revenues fall short of the minimum estimated net revenues specified in the law.
 
     A spokesman for the Government said, "The two franchisees recently notified the Government of the dates on which they would like the new statutory toll levels to take effect. However, the two companies will continue to offer concessions to all types of vehicles so that current actual toll levels payable by motorists will remain unchanged."
 
     The Commissioner for Transport will publish notices in the Gazette tomorrow (July 27) on the new statutory tolls of the WHC and Route 3. The relevant Legislative Council Briefs are at Annexes 1 and 2 respectively.

The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:

     The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) published today (July 26) the results of Survey on Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)' Credit Conditions for the second quarter of 2018.

     Regarding SMEs' perception of banks' credit approval stance relative to six months ago, 72 per cent of respondents perceived similar or easier credit approval stance in the second quarter of 2018, compared with 77 per cent recorded in the previous quarter (Chart 1 in the Annex). 28 per cent of respondents perceived more difficult credit approval stance in the second quarter of 2018, as compared to 23 per cent in the previous quarter.

     Of those respondents with existing credit lines, 94 per cent reported that banks' stance on existing credit lines was easier or unchanged in the second quarter of 2018, up from 88 per cent recorded in the previous quarter (Chart 2 in the Annex). 6 per cent of respondents reported tightened banks' stance in the second quarter of 2018, down from 12 per cent in the previous quarter.

     The Survey also gauged the results of new credit applications from SMEs. 2.3 per cent of respondents reported that they had applied for new bank credit during the second quarter of 2018. Of those with known application outcomes, 98 per cent reported fully or partially successful applications; the proportion of respondents that reported fully successful applications increased to 67 per cent from 50 per cent in the survey of the previous quarter (Chart 3 in the Annex). The proportion of respondents that reported unsuccessful application declined from 9 per cent to 2 per cent. It should be noted that owing to a small sample size (i.e. 2.3 per cent of surveyed SMEs), the results on new credit applications from SMEs could be prone to large fluctuations. Care should be taken when interpreting the survey results.
 
About Survey on SMEs' Credit Conditions

     In light of the importance of SMEs to the Hong Kong economy and concerns about potential funding difficulties facing SMEs over the past few years, the HKMA has appointed the Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) to carry out this Survey, starting from the third quarter of 2016. This Survey is conducted on a quarterly basis, covering about 2 500 SMEs from different economic sectors each time. The results of this Survey can help monitor the development of SMEs' access to bank credit from a demand-side perspective.

     The results of this Survey should be interpreted with caution. Similar to other opinion surveys, views collected in this Survey may be affected by changes in sentiment due to idiosyncratic events that occurred over the Survey period, which can make the results prone to fluctuations. Readers are advised to interpret the results together with other economic and financial information. In addition, views collected are limited to the expected direction of inter-quarter changes (e.g. "tighter", "similar" or "easier") without providing information about the magnitude of these changes.

     Detailed tables and technical information of this Survey are published on the website of the HKPC (smecc.hkpc.org).