Author Archives: hksar gov

     To align with the announcement by the Government to resume public services in a safe and orderly manner, the Labour Department (LD) will resume all counter services on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from next Monday (August 24).
     
     The Kwun Tong Occupational Health Clinic will be open for the whole day on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, as well as in the morning on Saturday. The Fanling Occupational Health Clinic will be open for the whole day on Tuesday and Thursday, and in the morning on Saturday.
 
     In view of public health considerations, members of the public entering the LD’s offices and clinics have to undergo on-the-spot temperature checks and should wear masks at all times. Crowd control arrangements will also be implemented.
 
     To reduce the flow of people and social contact, the LD will continue to implement targeted measures while resuming more public services, including adopting a roster system and introducing flexible working hours. The LD appeals for the understanding of members of the public as the waiting time for public services may be lengthened, or a longer time may be needed for the processing of enquiries and applications.
 
     The LD encourages members of the public to make use of the department’s online services and information (www.labour.gov.hk) and to file enquiries and requests for service by email at enquiry@labour.gov.hk as far as possible.
 
     Job seekers can use the Interactive Employment Service Website (www.jobs.gov.hk) for job search purposes. The LD’s Telephone Employment Service Centre, all Job Centres and industry-based Recruitment Centres also provide enquiry and employment services by telephone (telephone numbers are shown at www.jobs.gov.hk/1/0/WebForm/information/en/our_service/info_jobcentres.aspx) during office hours from Monday to Friday (9am to 1pm and 2pm to 5.30pm).
 
     Applicants for issue of licence or renewal of licence of employment agency may submit their applications to the office of the Employment Agencies Administration by post (Unit 906, 9/F, One Mong Kok Road Commercial Centre, 1 Mong Kok Road, Kowloon) or email (ea-ee@labour.gov.hk).
 
     For information about employment rights and benefits, members of the public may browse the LD’s website at www.labour.gov.hk/eng/faq/content.htm.
  
     The LD will review the situation in due course and make further announcements as appropriate. read more

     The Water Supplies Department (WSD) announced today (August 21) that it will provide more public services upon the implementation of targeted measures to reduce social contact, and help measures for infection control against COVID-19. The WSD’s Customer Enquiries Centre in Tai Kok Tsui will be reopened commencing on August 24 with opening hours from 10am to 4pm from Monday to Friday. Other public services arrangements announced on July 19 will continue.

     The arrangements above will remain effective until further notice. read more

     In view of the latest developments of the epidemic situation and in line with the announcement made by the Government yesterday (August 20) that it will gradually resume more public services in a safe and orderly manner, the Inland Revenue Department announced today (August 21) that the following offices will provide basic public services from August 24:
 

Offices	Opening hours
Central Enquiry Counter Business Registration Office Stamp Office Estate Duty Office Collection Enforcement Sections Refund Section	From 9am to noon and from 1.30pm to 4pm, Monday to Friday
Central Telephone Enquiry	From 9am to 12.30pm and from 1.30pm to 4pm, Monday to Friday

     The department appeals to members of the public for their understanding that the above services will be provided at a reduced scale and they should be prepared to experience a longer waiting time before they can be served. The department encourages the public to use electronic services to handle tax affairs as much as possible. A list of such services can be found in the department’s website at www.ird.gov.hk/eng/ese/index.htm.

     The department further announced that deadlines for tax payments (not applicable to Auto Tax Payment Service under the Tax Reserve Certificates Scheme), lodgement of objections and holdover applications, and submission of tax returns and information that fall between July 20 and August 30 will be automatically extended to August 31.

     The department will review the situation and make further announcements as necessary. read more

     In view of the latest developments of COVID-19, the Department of Justice announced today (August 21) that the following basic and essential services will continue to be provided from August 24 onwards: * Reception Counters … read more

     The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) today (August 21) released the latest grading of water quality for 38 gazetted beaches (see Note 1) and one non-gazetted beach (i.e. Discovery Bay, see Note 2).

     Twenty-five beaches were rated as Good (Grade 1) and 14 as Fair (Grade 2).
 
Grade 1 beaches are:
 

Big Wave Bay Beach	Lower Cheung Sha Beach
Cafeteria Old Beach	Middle Bay Beach
Cheung Chau Tung Wan Beach	Repulse Bay Beach
Chung Hom Kok Beach	Shek O Beach
Clear Water Bay First Beach	Silverstrand Beach
Clear Water Bay Second Beach	South Bay Beach
Deep Water Bay Beach	St Stephen’s Beach
Discovery Bay	Stanley Main Beach
Hap Mun Bay Beach	Tong Fuk Beach
Hung Shing Yeh Beach	Trio Beach
Kiu Tsui Beach	Turtle Cove Beach
Kwun Yam Beach	Upper Cheung Sha Beach
Lo So Shing Beach

 
Grade 2 beaches are:
 

Anglers’ Beach	Hoi Mei Wan Beach
Approach Beach	Kadoorie Beach
Butterfly Beach	Lido Beach
Cafeteria New Beach	Ma Wan Tung Wan Beach
Casam Beach	Pui O Beach
Castle Peak Beach	Silver Mine Bay Beach
Golden Beach	Ting Kau Beach

     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 1: In view of the latest situation of COVID-19, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department announced on July 13 that all beaches would be temporarily closed from July 15 until further notice.
 
Note 2: Discovery Bay is a non-gazetted beach without lifeguard service. read more