The Government today (February 11) announced that the Government Public Transport Fare Concession Scheme for the Elderly and Eligible Persons with Disabilities ($2 Scheme) will be extended to cover trams as well as red minibus and kaito routes approved by the Transport Department (TD) from February 27.
      
     Red minibus and kaito operators participating in the Scheme must strictly comply with the TD's monitoring conditions, including registration with the department of origin and destination of the routes and fares, installation of an Octopus payment system on admitted routes to ensure adherence to pre-set registered fares for calculating reimbursement of differential fares, as well as compliance with its regular reporting and audit requirements. Preparation work by the operators is underway so as to meet the monitoring and auditing requirements. 
      
     A total of 45 red minibus routes and 11 kaito routes have been approved by the TD to join the Scheme. For ease of identification, the logo of the Scheme (see attached Annex I) will be displayed at a prominent position on vehicles or vessels and atop the Octopus readers of the routes of the red minibuses and kaitos concerned. Details of these routes are at Annex II.
      
     From February 27, all eligible persons may enjoy the $2 concessionary fare on trams as well as the red minibus and kaito routes approved to join the Scheme in addition to MTR, franchised buses, ferries and green minibuses. Eligible persons aged 60 to 64 must use a JoyYou Card to enjoy the $2 concessionary fare. JoyYou Card holders are reminded to load more than $50 to the card before initial use, in which $50 is a refundable deposit charged by the Octopus Cards Limited.

     As the local epidemic situation remains severe, it is necessary for the Government to continue to take measures to significantly reduce the flow of people and social contacts to stop the virus from spreading in the community. The Buildings Department (BD) announced today (February 11) that it will continue to provide emergency and essential public services until February 18. The basic public services will remain the same as in the past week, as detailed below.

     Submission of the following applications and documents in person should be through:

1. A drop-in box located at G/F, BD Headquarters, North Tower, West Kowloon Government Offices, 11 Hoi Ting Road, Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon, for documents from members of the public from 8.30am to 5.30pm from Monday to Friday. The BD will issue receipts/acknowledgements of submissions in due course;

2. A tender/quotation box located at G/F, BD Headquarters for tender/quotation documents from 8.30am to 5.30pm from Monday to Friday; and

3. The receipt and dispatch counter at the office of the BD's New Buildings Division on 7/F, 14 Taikoo Wan Road, Taikoo Shing, Hong Kong, for collection of statutory applications and related documents and forms for new building works from 9.30am to 4.30pm from Monday to Friday.

     Under the special work arrangements, the handling time of the BD's services may be longer than usual.

     The Building Information Centre at 2/F of the BD Headquarters (a hotline at 3842 5375 has been set up to handle enquiries on requests for inspection of building records), the receipt counter and general enquiry counter at G/F of the BD Headquarters and all meeting rooms of the BD will not be open to the public until further notice. All appointments, meetings (except meetings essential to meet statutory requirements such as Minor Works Contractor Registration Committee meetings) and inspections scheduled for the period will be rescheduled to later dates and the individuals concerned will be notified in due course.

     The BD appeals to the public to minimise visiting the department's offices in person unless they genuinely require its public services urgently. The public may call 1823 to make emergency reports. For general enquiries and reports, members of the public may call 1823 or inform the department by email (enquiry@bd.gov.hk), online reporting (eform.one.gov.hk/form/bd0001/en), fax (2537 4992) or post (North Tower, West Kowloon Government Offices, 11 Hoi Ting Road, Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon). In addition, electronic information can be submitted to the BD via receipt@bd.gov.hk.

     The Immigration Department (ImmD) today (February 11) said that as the local epidemic situation remains severe, it is necessary for the ImmD to maintain the implementation of emergency measures to reduce social contact to prevent large-scale outbreaks being caused by the introduction of a highly contagious variant virus strain into Castle Peak Bay Immigration Centre and Ma Tau Kok Detention Centre. With a view to ensuring the safety of detainees and staff, social visits to the detainees will be further suspended until February 23. Moreover, in consideration of the individual needs of the detainees, every detainee will be allowed to receive approved hand-in articles delivered to the respective Centres by his/her visitors once between February 14 and February 23. 

     In accordance with the regulations implemented by the Government, persons entering the Centres are required to wear masks and comply with the epidemic prevention and social distancing measures including using the "LeaveHomeSafe" mobile app, temperature checks and crowd control arrangements. In case of urgent matters or enquiries regarding the categories or quantities of the approved hand-in articles, the persons concerned may contact the staff of visit rooms of the respective Centres for follow-up by telephone. 

     The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) today (February 11) released the latest grading of water quality for four gazetted beaches that are open all year round for swimming (see Note).
  
     Four beaches were rated as Good (Grade 1).
 
Grade 1 beaches are:

 
     Under the present grading system, beaches are classified into four grades, namely Good (Grade 1), Fair (Grade 2), Poor (Grade 3) and Very Poor (Grade 4), according to the level of E. coli in the water. Grades are calculated on the basis of the geometric mean of the E. coli counts on the five most recent sampling occasions.
 
     A summary of beach grades is published weekly before the weekend. The latest beach grades based on the most current data may be obtained from the EPD's website on Beach Water Quality (www.epd.gov.hk/epd/beach) or the beach hotline, 2511 6666.
 
Note: In view of the latest situation of COVID-19, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department has announced that lifeguard services at these beaches are temporarily suspended.

     In light of the extension of special work arrangements for government employees, the Rating and Valuation Department announced today (February 11) that starting from February 14, the opening hours of its enquiry counters will continue to be adjusted as follows to provide essential counter services to members of the public until further notice.
 
Opening hours of enquiry counters:
Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 3pm
 
     To reduce the flow of people and social contact to curb the further spread of the virus in the community, the department appeals to the public to avoid visiting the enquiry counters in person unless they require services of the department urgently.  Members of the public should use the department's 24-hour electronic services (www.rvd.gov.hk) to submit forms or obtain information as far as possible. They may also contact the department by email (enquiries@rvd.gov.hk), by fax (2152 0138) or by phone at 2152 0111/2152 2152. Owing to the special work arrangements, the waiting/response time may be longer than usual.