With the long weekend of Ching Ming Festival holiday approaching, Hong Kong Customs today (April 3) reminded members of the public and travellers not to bring "space oil drug" into or out of Hong Kong in order to avoid breaching the law and incurring criminal liabilities.
 
　　To step up the control of the "space oil drug", the Government has listed etomidate, the main ingredient of the "space oil drug" and its three analogues (metomidate, propoxate and isopropoxate) as dangerous drugs.
 
　　A spokesman for Hong Kong Customs said, "With the long weekend of the Ching Ming Festival holiday approaching, we will take more stringent enforcement actions against cross-boundary trafficking of the 'space oil drug' and other narcotics activities. Hong Kong Customs will not tolerate drug trafficking criminals and will bring them to justice."
 
　　Drug trafficking is a serious offence. Under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, the maximum penalty upon conviction is life imprisonment and a fine of $5 million. The maximum penalty upon conviction for possession of dangerous drugs is imprisonment for seven years and a fine of $1 million.
 
    With a view to enhancing enforcement efficiency, Customs has incorporated etomidate and its analogues into the databases of raman spectrometers and ion scanners to increase frontline personnel's capability in detecting the "space oil drug". Customs will continue to work closely with Mainland and overseas law enforcement agencies to stringently combat cross-boundary drug trafficking activities. 

    Members of the public are urged to report any suspected drug trafficking activities to Customs' 24-hour hotline 182 8080 or its dedicated crime reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk) and online form (eform.cefs.gov.hk/form/ced002/).

     The Transport Department (TD) today (April 3) reminded members of the public that the following special traffic and transport arrangements will be implemented in phases from this Friday to Sunday (April 4 to 6) to facilitate the holding of the triathlon event in Central and Wan Chai districts.
 
1. Road closures
 

• From 10am on Friday (April 4) to about 6pm on Sunday (April 6), the section of Expo Drive between Legislative Council Road and Expo Drive Central will be temporarily closed; and
• From 1am to about 2pm on Saturday (April 5) and from 1am to about 6pm on Sunday (April 6), road closure and diversion measures will be implemented in the vicinities of the Central Harbourfront and Wan Chai North (Yiu Sing Street, Lung Wo Road, Lung Hop Street, Lung Tat Path, etc). The slip road of eastbound Central-Wan Chai Bypass Tunnel from Wan Chai heading to North Point will also be temporarily closed during the above period.

 
2. Public transport arrangements

     To tie in with the road closure arrangements in the vicinity of Central Harbourfront, the departures of cross-harbour bus route nos. H1S and H2 heading to Central will be temporarily diverted to operate via Connaught Road Central in the following time periods until the closed road is reopened to traffic:
 

• from the first departure on Saturday (April 5) to about 2pm; and
• from the first departure on Sunday (April 6) to about 6pm.

     During the road closure in Central Harbourfront, the bus stop on Man Yiu Street near Two International Finance Centre will be temporarily suspended.
 
     Members of the public are advised to make use of public transport services as far as possible to avoid traffic congestion and unnecessary delays. During the event, the TD and the Police will closely monitor the traffic situation. The Police may adjust the traffic arrangements subject to the prevailing crowd and traffic conditions in the areas. Members of the public should pay attention to the latest traffic news through radio, television or the "HKeMobility" mobile application.
 
     For details of the special traffic and public transport arrangements, members of the public may visit the TD website (www.td.gov.hk), its mobile application "HKeMobility" or passenger notices issued by the relevant public transport operators.

     The Leisure and Cultural Services Department announced today (April 3) that, for continuous service improvement, the SmartPLAY system will be temporarily suspended from 10.30am to 4.30pm on April 8 (Tuesday) for system upgrading. Users who plan to use the system to book facilities or enrol in recreation and sports programmes on the above-mentioned date are advised to use it before or after the suspension period.
 
     Since the SmartPLAY website (www.smartplay.lcsd.gov.hk/home), the mobile app (My SmartPLAY), Smart Self-service Stations and self check-in devices will be suspended during system upgrading, users who wish to use leisure facilities or participate in recreation and sports activities during that period should bring their identity documents and present them to the venue staff or the activity instructor for check-in. Details are provided on the SmartPLAY dedicated website (www.smartplay.lcsd.gov.hk/website/en/index.html).

     The Health Bureau (HHB) announced today (April 3) that eHealth users can now view radiology reports deposited into their eHealth accounts by the Hospital Authority, the Department of Health and private healthcare providers (HCPs) through the eHealth mobile application (eHealth App), allowing citizens to better understand and manage their health.
 
     Users can generally view the radiology reports through the "Investigations" function of the App 14 days after the reports are released, and the App's information centre will also issue relevant notifications. The HHB advises citizens to first enquire whether the HCPs can deposit examination records into their personal eHealth accounts when selecting private HCPs for radiological examinations, to enable the building of a comprehensive electronic health record (eHR).
 
     Currently, all public HCPs and over 115 private HCPs with more than 550 service locations in total, including private hospitals, medical group practices and radiological examination centres, are technically ready. If citizens have given "sharing consent" to relevant private HCPs, their radiology reports can then be deposited in their eHealth accounts for access by the citizens and other authorised healthcare professionals. As at the end of February this year, a total of 40 private HCPs (involving nearly 100 service locations) have deposited radiology reports into the eHealth accounts of over 3.1 million citizens upon obtaining their authorisations.
 
     A spokesman for the HHB said, "Under the eHealth+ five-year development plan, we are committed to building a personal lifelong eHR profile and a comprehensive personal medical record for every citizen, while creating a one-stop comprehensive health portal through the eHealth App to help citizens manage their health records, access health information, monitor personal health and establish a healthier lifestyle. With the further enhancement of the App's function, radiology reports of citizens from both public and private HCPs, as well as those from various government-subsidised healthcare programmes (such as the Project on Enhancing Radiological Investigation Services through Collaboration with the Private Sector), are consolidated for citizens' access at any time, eliminating the inconvenience of storing paper reports and saving costs on redundant tests. This also facilitates authorised HCPs in conducting analysis and comparison, thereby providing a seamless and personalised care journey for citizens."
 
     Since the launch of the eHealth App in 2021, the Government has progressively expanded the health records available for citizens' viewing. Currently, eHealth users can access nine types of eHRs, namely, personal identification and demographic data, allergies and adverse drug reactions, encounters and appointments, immunisation records, medication records, laboratory and radiology reports, healthcare referrals, observation and lifestyle records, as well as medical certificates. In the future, the Government will gradually make more health records available for citizen's viewing, including radiology images, Chinese medicine prescription records as well as dental check-ups records and dental conditions.
 
     The Government will continue to take a multipronged approach to encourage and facilitate the deposit of citizens' eHRs into eHealth by private HCPs, thereby assisting citizens in accessing, managing and using their own eHRs during the healthcare process. Through the eHealth website (www.ehealth.gov.hk/en/index.html), citizens can easily identify the scope of medical records  that an HCP is capable of depositing into their personal eHealth accounts. In addition, the Government will launch an eHealth+ accreditation scheme in 2025 to further assist citizens in choosing suitable HCPs, so as to ensure that their medical records will be deposited into their personal eHealth accounts.
 
     The Government announced the rollout of the eHealth+ five-year plan in the 2023 Policy Address, with a view to transforming eHealth into a comprehensive healthcare information infrastructure that integrates multiple functions of healthcare data sharing, service delivery and care journey management. eHealth+ aims to bring about a more seamless and personalised care journey for every citizen and facilitate care co-ordination and cross-sector collaboration, as well as health management and health surveillance, thus enabling citizens to enjoy higher-quality healthcare services while effectively supporting various healthcare policies.
 
     For more information, citizens may visit the eHealth thematic website (app.ehealth.gov.hk/index.html?lang=en) or call the hotline at 3467 6300. The hotline service runs from 9am to 9pm from Mondays to Fridays (except public holidays).

     Police laid a holding charge against a 25-year-old man with one count of murder today (April 3).

     The man was arrested on April 1 in suspected connection with a murder happened in Sha Tin on March 16 afternoon, in which a 52-year-old man died.

     The case will be mentioned at Sha Tin Magistrates' Court this afternoon.