Author Archives: hksar gov

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     To cope with the rapid and huge increase in number of confirmed patients, which has overwhelmed the capacity of public hospitals and the community treatment and isolation facilities, the Hospital Authority (HA) announced today (March 6) that it will activate three more designated clinics for confirmed cases of COVID-19 tomorrow (March 7) to help provide diagnosis and treatment for the people with positive test results, and those people who are presenting with relatively mild symptoms of infection (e.g., fever, cough, sore throat) requiring medical advice while awaiting admission to hospitals or isolation facilities.

     “The HA had activated fourteen designated clinics earlier for confirmed cases of COVID-19. As at 5pm on March 5, the designated clinics have provided over 25 000 attendances. The three newly activated designated clinics are East Kowloon General Out-patient Clinic, Mrs Wu York Yu General Out-patient Clinic and Tai Po Jockey Club General Out-patient Clinic, adding up a total of 17 designated clinics,” the HA spokesperson said.

     In order to implement appropriate infection control arrangements, people seeking consultation must make appointments by telephone to avoid people queuing at the clinics. The healthcare staff of the designated clinics will provide appropriate treatment according to the patient’s clinical condition, and will transfer the patient to the hospitals for further treatment if required.

     The designated clinics are open from Monday to Sunday, including public holidays, from 9am to 1pm, and 2pm to 5pm. Eligible patients should call the selected designated clinic to make an appointment, and will be provided the earliest appointment timeslot in the next 24 hours.

     Normal general out-patient services at the designated clinics, including the related evening, Sunday and public holidays service, will be suspended starting from tomorrow. In addition, in order to focus manpower and resources to support the services of the designated clinics, some other General Out-patient Clinics will also temporarily suspend services from tomorrow onwards. Episodic patients who have an appointment made via telephone booking or mobile application “HA GO” are advised to seek consultation at other General Out-patient Clinics or at private clinics. Chronic patients with follow-up appointments at the clinics are advised to refill their drugs at the designated Medication Refill Clinics in the district on the appointment day by presenting their appointment slips and identity cards. For the list of Designated Clinics for COVID-19 Confirmed Cases and the corresponding medication refill clinics, see Annex 1; for the list of General Out-patient Clinics with temporary services suspension and the corresponding Medication Refill Clinics, see Annex 2.

     COVID-19 vaccination service will also be suspended. Government will send text messages to citizens who have made appointments for COVID-19 vaccination at the related designated clinics and advise them to go to other community vaccination centres for vaccination service.

     The distribution of deep throat saliva specimen collection packs and collection service of specimens at the three designated clinics will also be suspended. Citizens are advised to go to other selected General Out-patient Clinics or service points designated by the Government at specified time for obtaining the specimen collection packs or submitting the specimens. Details on the specimen collection packs distribution points and specimen collection points are available at the following website: www.coronavirus.gov.hk/eng/early-testing.html.

     The HA will closely monitor the service needs and operation of the designated clinics to dovetail with the latest development of the epidemic. The HA once again thanks the public for their patience and for being accommodating in complying with the arrangements so that the isolation facilities in public hospitals can accord priority to the confirmed elderly, young patients and patients with special medical needs. With the gradual increase in community treatment and isolation facilities, the remaining confirmed patients will be admitted in an orderly manner. read more

     Hongkong Post today (March 6) said that facing the severe epidemic situation, it has been striving to maintain the provision of essential postal services to members of the public. At present, all existing essential local and international postal services remain unchanged.

     Further to Hongkong Post’s announcement of the temporary suspension of LocalCourierPost and local parcel service with effect from March 7, members of the public can choose local registered service for posting of mail items up to 2 kilograms. For posting of mail items with weight not exceeding 20kg, senders can consider using the EC-Get service for recipients to collect at any post offices or HongkongPost’s iPostal Stations. A collection notification will be issued to the recipients by short message service (SMS) upon arrival of the mail items. For details of EC-Get service, members of the public can access the service website: www.hongkongpost.hk/en/sending_mail/local/ec_get/index.html.
 
     In response to the development of epidemic situation, Hongkong Post has been through deploying internal resources to cope with the stringent manpower situation arising from the absence of staff who either tested positive for COVID-19 or are being close contacts of confirmed cases in order to maintain the essential postal services as far as practicable. Hongkong Post apologises for the inconvenience caused by the adjustment of its services. For more information, members of the public may visit Hongkong Post’s website on www.hongkongpost.hk or call the Hongkong Post enquiry hotline at 2921 2222. read more

     The Commerce and Economic Development Bureau (CEDB) said today (March 6) that in view of the large quantities of anti-epidemic medical supplies from the Mainland arriving in Hong Kong, the task force of ensuring medical supplies has spared no effort in assisting the Government Logistics Department (GLD) to identify more storage facilities. This has significantly increased Hong Kong’s storage capacity in anticipation of the peak shipments of supplies to support the Compulsory Universal Testing (CUT).
      
     With the assistance of the task force, the GLD has brought on line a number of large-scale temporary storage areas (around 140 000 square metres in total) for the anti-epidemic supplies. Apart from renting storage facilities located in various districts, such as Chai Wan, Tuen Mun, Kwai Chung and Kowloon Bay, the GLD has successfully secured loaned venues in Wan Chai and Tseung Kwan O districts from local enterprises, which will be used for short-term storage starting from early next week.
      
     The GLD stands ready with sufficient storage capacity to fully receive and store the medical supplies continuously arriving Hong Kong from Mainland enterprises, ensuring efficient handling of the enormous needs for supplies during the CUT and swift distribution to those in need.
      
     The task force of ensuring medical supplies led by the CEDB has been working closely with their Mainland counterparts. Various kinds of medical supplies, including rapid antigen test kits, masks, proprietary Chinese medicines, protective gear and medical products, are arriving in Hong Kong in batches for frontline staff, individuals receiving treatment, people in need, and for use during the CUT. read more

     The Government today (March 6) exercised the power under the Prevention and Control of Disease (Compulsory Testing for Certain Persons) Regulation (Cap. 599J) to make a “restriction-testing declaration” (declaration) effective from 6pm, under which people (hereafter referred to as “persons subject to compulsory testing”) within the specified “restricted area” in Aberdeen (i.e. Hoi Chun Court and Hoi Chu Court, Aberdeen Centre, excluding the car park and shopping arcade thereat. See Annex.) are required to stay in their premises and undergo compulsory testing. Persons subject to compulsory testing are required to stay in their premises until all such persons identified in the “restricted area” have undergone testing and the test results are mostly ascertained. The Government aims at finishing this exercise at around 1pm tomorrow (March 7). The operation may be extended depending on test results.
      
     A Government spokesman said, “Under Cap. 599J, the Government can, according to the needs of infection control, make a ‘restriction-testing declaration’. As the sewage discharged from the above buildings was tested positive for COVID-19, it is suspected that there are asymptomatic patients in the buildings. Given the risk of infection in the relevant area is assessed to be likely higher, the Government decided to make a ‘restriction-testing declaration’ for the relevant area.”
 
     The Government will set up temporary specimen collection stations at the “restricted area” and request persons subject to compulsory testing to undergo testing before 11pm today. Arrangements will be made for persons subject to compulsory testing to undergo a nucleic acid test at specimen collection stations where dedicated staff will collect samples through combined nasal and throat swabs. Persons subject to compulsory testing must stay at their place of residence until all test results are ascertained to avoid cross-infection risk. The Government will make arrangement to facilitate specimen collection for people with impaired mobility.
 
     The Government spokesman said, “We understand that this exercise will cause inconvenience to the public. The Government has made arrangements to carry out testing for all persons present in the ‘restricted area’ as soon as possible. The aim is to strive to complete testing of all identified persons subject to compulsory testing and confirm the results, and finish the exercise at around 1pm tomorrow. The Government will make a public announcement when the declaration expires officially. In the cases in which employees are unable to go to work because of the declaration, the Government hopes their employers can exercise discretion and not deduct the salaries or benefits of the employees.”
 
     If staying in the “restricted area” will cause unreasonable hardship to individuals who are not residents in the area when the declaration takes effect, government officers may exercise discretion and allow that person to leave the area after considering the individual circumstances. That person must have followed the instructions to undergo testing and leave his/her personal information for contact purposes.
 
     According to the compulsory testing notice to be issued today, any person who had been present at the above building for more than two hours from February 21 to March 6, 2022, even if they were not present in the “restricted area” at the time when the declaration took effect, must undergo compulsory testing on or before March 8, 2022. As a mutant strain is involved, for prudence’s sake, vaccinated persons and persons who have recently been tested are also required to undergo testing.
 
     The Home Affairs Department has set up a hotline (Tel: 2835 1473) which starts operation at 6pm today for residents restricted by the declaration to make enquiries and seek assistance. The Social Welfare Department will also provide assistance to the affected persons.
 
     The Government appeals to persons subject to compulsory testing for their full co-operation by registering and undergoing testing, and waiting for the results patiently at home. The Government will strictly follow up on whether the persons concerned have complied with the compulsory testing notices and “restriction-testing declaration”. Any person who fails to comply with the compulsory testing notices commits an offence and may be fined a fixed penalty of $10,000. The person would also be issued with a compulsory testing order requiring him or her to undergo testing within a specified time frame. Failure to comply with the compulsory testing order or the “restriction-testing declaration” is an offence and the offender would be liable to a fine at level 4 ($25,000) and imprisonment for six months. read more

     The Government yesterday (March 5) exercised the power under the Prevention and Control of Disease (Compulsory Testing for Certain Persons) Regulation (Cap. 599J) to make a “restriction-testing declaration” effective from 6.30pm that day, under which people (hereafter referred to as “persons subject to compulsory testing”) within the specified “restricted area” in Aberdeen (i.e. Hoi Shan Court and Hoi Wu Court, Aberdeen Centre, excluding the car park and shopping arcade thereat) were required to stay in their premises and undergo compulsory testing. Persons subject to compulsory testing were required to stay in their premises until all such persons identified in the “restricted area” had undergone testing and the test results were mostly ascertained.

     Moreover, the Government issued a compulsory testing notice yesterday, requiring persons who had been present at the above buildings for more than two hours from February 20 to March 5, 2022, even if they were not present in the “restricted area” at the time when the declaration took effect, to undergo compulsory testing on or before March 7, 2022. The Government announced the completion of the compulsory testing exercise at around 1pm today (March 6) and carried out enforcement action in the “restricted area” afterwards to verify that all people in the “restricted area” had undergone compulsory testing in accordance with the requirements of the relevant declaration and compulsory testing notice. The Government announced that the enforcement operation ended at around 4.30pm today.

     The Government provided food packs for persons subject to compulsory testing to facilitate their meal arrangements. Anti-epidemic proprietary Chinese medicines supplied by the Central People’s Government and rapid test kits were also provided to persons subject to compulsory testing to help them fight against the virus.

     The Government thanks persons subject to compulsory testing for their support and understanding. With everyone’s co-operation and efforts, coupled with the tireless efforts of the testing contractors, residents have been informed about their testing results by SMS notification. After finishing the compulsory testing exercise at around 1pm today, the Government took enforcement action in the “restricted area” immediately to verify that all people in the “restricted area” had undergone testing according to the requirements of the declaration and the compulsory testing notice. Persons who could present an SMS notification containing a negative testing result or wore a wristband as proof of having undergone the compulsory testing could leave the “restricted area” through the designated exit after providing personal information to a prescribed officer. The enforcement operation was completed at around 4.30pm. Test records of 275 persons subject to compulsory testing were checked. Nine persons were found not having undergone compulsory testing and compulsory testing orders were issued to them. Taking into account the above situation, the Secretary for Food and Health revoked the “restriction-testing declaration” in accordance with Cap. 599J (see attachment).
 
     The Government reminds the 19 households who have not answered the door to contact the Government for arrangement of testing as soon as possible after reading the notices put up by the Government, in the hope of eliminating the possible risk of further spread of the virus in the community.

　　The Government thanks all participating government staff and the testing agencies for their hard work. The Government is also grateful to those subject to compulsory testing for their support and understanding, and their full co-operation during this period in undergoing testing and waiting for the results at home.

　　The Government will seriously follow up on the compliance situation of the compulsory testing notices and the “restriction-testing declaration” by persons subject to compulsory testing. Any person who fails to comply with the compulsory testing notices commits an offence and may be liable to a fixed penalty of $10,000. The person will also be issued with a compulsory testing order, requiring him or her to undergo testing within a specified time frame. Failure to comply with the order or the “restriction-testing declaration” is an offence and the offender may be liable to a fine of level 4 ($25,000) and imprisonment for six months. read more