The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) today (February 20) announced that in view of cases testing preliminarily positive for COVID-19 found to be related to Bowrington Road Market cum Cooked Food Centre, for prudence's sake, the market closed an hour earlier today at 7pm, as well as all day tomorrow (February 21). Deep cleaning and disinfection will be conducted during the closure period so as to safeguard the health and safety of market stall tenants and the public.

     A spokesman for the FEHD said, "The FEHD has cleaned and disinfected the areas where the persons concerned worked. Also, during the deep cleaning and disinfection period, the FEHD staff will thoroughly clean and disinfect communal areas and facilities in the market, and call for co-operation of market tenants to conduct cleaning and disinfection at their respective stalls. In addition, the FEHD will arrange street washing and disinfection in the vicinity of the market."

     The FEHD will maintain liaison with tenants of the market, and ask them to go to community testing centres for free testing as soon as possible and obtain negative results before they return to the market to work. If all goes well, the FEHD will reopen the market on February 22 (Tuesday) after the completion of the deep cleaning and disinfection work.

     In addition, in view of a case testing preliminarily positive for COVID-19 found to be related to Lockhart Road Market cum Cooked Food Centre in Wan Chai, for prudence's sake and to safeguard the health and safety of market stall tenants and the public, the market closed an hour earlier today at 7pm. Deep cleaning and disinfection in the areas where the person concerned works, as well as the communal areas and facilities in the market, will be conducted during the closure period. Also, the FEHD will call for co-operation of market tenants to conduct cleaning and disinfection at their respective stalls, and arrange street washing and disinfection in the vicinity of the market. The FEHD will also ask, in accordance with the Centre of Health Protection's advice, market tenants related to undergo COVID-19 testing. 

     The spokesman said, "The FEHD attaches importance to the hygiene conditions of public markets. In addition to regular cleaning work in the daytime, market service contractors also conduct thorough cleaning in all markets after the markets are closed every day. With the assistance offered by the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department to the FEHD, we have completed a check on air change and installation of air purifiers according to needs in its markets in 2021; and are now following up with the installation of UVC sterilisers at escalator handrails at our markets."

     "During this epidemic period, the FEHD has already stepped up cleaning and disinfection of communal areas and facilities in the markets, including toilets, escalators, elevators and stair handrails with diluted household bleach regularly every day. Disinfectant hand sanitisers are also provided in the markets for public use."

     The FEHD will continue to closely monitor the situation of each market, and will conduct deep cleaning and disinfection work in other markets if necessary so as to maintain environmental hygiene.

     The Food and Health Bureau (FHB) today (February 20) organised an online briefing for dozens of members of the Security Bureau's anti-epidemic task force and hotel staff who will soon be involved in the operation of Community Isolation Facility (CIF) hotels. The briefing covered relevant workflow, with particular emphasis on infection control so as to ensure that staff members will operate the hotels in a safe manner.

     The briefing was conducted by officers from the FHB's Office of the Designated Quarantine Hotel Scheme, who are responsible for infection control as well as operation and security. They took into account the actual circumstances of the CIF hotels and briefed staff members responsible for the day-to-day operations of the hotels on matters needing attention. Particularly on infection control, officers introduced the proper way to don and doff personal protective equipment and maintain environmental and personal hygiene, etc.

     In response to the severe fifth wave of the COVID-19 epidemic, the Government has rented a number of suitable hotels as CIFs to accommodate confirmed cases with no or mild symptoms. Up till now, the first batch of four CIF hotels have commenced operation, providing about 1 700 rooms. FHB has already arranged training for the personnel of the four hotels. A number of CIF hotels will commence operation later this week, providing an additional 4 000 rooms.

     FHB is in active discussion with a number of hotels and will race against time in increasing the provision of CIFs.

  

     The Intellectual Property Department (IPD) today (February 20) said that a staff member tested positive for COVID-19.

     The staff member works in the Public Service Counter (PSC) of the IPD on 24/F, Wu Chung House (WCH), which has been closed to the public since February 7. She last worked in office on February 15, performing duties in support of the drop-box service. She has properly maintained social distancing with colleagues in contact, and has been wearing face masks and following infection control measures at work.

     The IPD has required concerned staff of the same floor to undergo COVID-19 testing and work from home until a negative test result is obtained. Thorough cleansing and disinfection of the premises concerned has been completed. The IPD will continue to maintain close liaison with the Centre for Health Protection of the Department of Health in taking appropriate follow-up actions. 

     The drop-box service provided on 24/F, WCH will be suspended tomorrow (February 21) until February 23. Members of the public are advised to continue to access the services of the Registries through the IPD's E-filing System or send documents by post, and refer to notices posted on the IPD's website (www.ipd.gov.hk/eng/whats_new/news.htm) and the Hong Kong Intellectual Property Journal (www.ipd.gov.hk/eng/ip_journal_notice.htm) for details of the latest special work arrangement in place. For enquiries, please call the IPD's Hotline on 2961 6901/2961 6820.

     During the pandemic, the IPD has been strictly implementing various infection control measures, and stepping up the cleaning and disinfection measures for the working environment. Staff members have been reminded to pay attention to their personal hygiene and stay vigilant at all times, and advised to seek medical advice immediately if feeling unwell.

     The Government exercised the power under the Prevention and Control of Disease (Compulsory Testing for Certain Persons) Regulation (Cap. 599J) on February 18 to make a "restriction-testing declaration" effective from 7pm, under which people (hereafter referred to as "persons subject to compulsory testing") within the specified "restricted area" in Sham Shui Po (i.e. Block 21, Shek Kip Mei Estate, Sham Shui Po) were required to stay in their premises and undergo compulsory testing. The Government yesterday (February 19) extended the period of operation to today (February 20). 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 and they had to undergo two tests under the designated arrangement. In addition, any person who had been present at the above building for more than two hours from February 5 to February 18, 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 February 20, 2022. The Government finished the compulsory testing exercise at around 5pm today and is now carrying out enforcement actions in the "restricted area" to verify that all people in the "restricted area" have undergone compulsory testing. The Government will further announce the revocation time of the declaration.
 
     Starting from around 5pm today, persons in the "restricted area" in Sham Shui Po who have undergone testing and are able to present SMS notifications with negative test results as proof of having undergone testing may leave the "restricted area" through the designated exit after providing personal information to a prescribed officer.

     The Government set up temporary specimen collection stations in the "restricted area" and requested persons subject to compulsory testing to collect combined nasal and throat swab samples at the stations to undergo a COVID-19 virus test as designated. A total of around 2 150 person-time had undergone testing in the first round and second round of testing. 168 tested preliminary positive cases and six indeterminate cases were found and the Centre for Health Protection of the Department of Health will take follow up action. Regarding cases tested preliminarily positive in the specified "restricted area", the Government will distribute disinfection products and surgical masks to these persons for use while waiting for follow-up arrangement.
 
     Moreover, the Government also assigned staff to visit about 470 households, among which 30 households did not answer the door. The Government will take measures to follow up.
 
     The Government reiterates that enforcement actions will be taken seriously. Any person who fails to present an SMS notification with a test result as proof of having undergone testing breaches the compulsory testing notice and may be liable to a fine of $10,000. The person will also be issued with a compulsory testing order, requiring him/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 may be liable to a fine of level 4 ($25,000) and imprisonment for six months.

Attention duty announcers, radio and TV stations: 

     Please broadcast the following as soon as possible and repeat it at suitable intervals: 

     The Marine Department today (February 20) reminded masters, coxswains and persons-in-charge of vessels navigating in Hong Kong waters to proceed at a safe speed and exercise extreme caution because restricted visibility of less than 2 nautical miles has been reported. 

     Appropriate sound signals shall be made when underway or at anchor. All vessels must comply with the International Regulations for Preventing Collision at Sea. 

     Also, when radar is used without the benefit of adequate plotting facilities, the information obtained from the equipment is rather limited and should be construed accordingly. 

     Visibility reports are broadcast by the Vessel Traffic Centre (VTC) on VHF channels 02, 12, 14, 63 and 67. 

     In the event of an accident, a report shall be made immediately to the VTC at Tel: 2233 7801.