Author Archives: hksar gov

     The Social Welfare Department (SWD) today (August 20) said that a Clerical Assistant (CA) of Kowloon City Probation and Community Service Orders Office (Sub-office), has tested positive for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

     The CA last performed duties at To Kwa Wan Government Offices on August 10 and Kowloon City Law Courts Building on August 14. During the pandemic, the department has been strictly implementing various disease prevention measures, including measuring the body temperature of people entering the office and providing masks and other personal protective equipment for staff. The CA had been wearing a mask when performing duties. Her body temperature was normal when undergoing temperature screening during work.

     A thorough cleaning and disinfection has been arranged at the premises concerned by the SWD and Kowloon City Magistrates’ Courts. The SWD will maintain close contact with the Centre for Health Protection of the Department of Health to take follow-up action as appropriate.

     The SWD is highly concerned about the COVID-19 epidemic. Staff members are reminded to pay attention to personal hygiene and to stay vigilant. They should seek medical advice immediately if feeling unwell. read more

     Taking into account the need to fight the virus for the whole community, the Government has implemented special work arrangements for government employees in the past month. As only emergency and essential public services were provided, the provision of many public services has been reduced to various extents. In view of the latest development of the epidemic situation, a spokesman for the Government announced today (August 20) that government departments will gradually resume the provision of basic public services, which have been suspended or reduced in scale earlier, from August 24 to meet the needs of the public and enterprises.
 
     “The current epidemic situation remains severe. While fighting the epidemic remains the top priority of the Government, taking into account the need for the functioning of society, bureaux/departments should provide more public services from August 24 onwards upon the implementation of targeted measures to reduce social contact and measures for infection control. The Government’s ultimate goal is to resume full public services when conditions permit,” the spokesman said.
 
     For instance, the Housing Authority (HA)/the Housing Department will take an incremental approach to the resumption of basic public services starting from August 24. For example, the Public Rental Housing Application Office of the HA Customer Service Centre will open for three days a week. All the HA’s Estate Management Offices will be open from 10am to 4pm on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Flat selection sessions of Sale of Green Form Subsidised Home Ownership Scheme Flats 2019 will gradually resume services from August 31.
 
     The Labour Department will resume all counter services on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from August 24. The Kwun Tong Occupational Health Clinic will be open the whole day on Monday, Wednesday and Friday as well as Saturday morning. The Fanling Occupational Health Clinic will be open the whole day on Tuesday and Thursday, and Saturday morning.
 
     In the week of August 24, all Home Affairs Enquiry Centres and Estate Beneficiaries Support Units of the Home Affairs Department will resume the provision of declaration/oath and counter services respectively for two days on a pre-booking basis.
 
     The Receipt and Dispatch Counter services at the office of the Buildings Department (BD)’s New Buildings Divisions on Taikoo Wan Road, Hong Kong, will increase and will be open from 9.30am to 3pm from Monday to Friday for receiving statutory submissions and related documents and forms for new building works to replace the current drop-in counter services which operate three days a week. The Building Information Centre at 2/F of the BD Headquarters at North Tower, West Kowloon Government Offices, Hoi Ting Road, Kowloon, will be reopened between 10am to 4pm from Monday to Friday to provide inspection and copying services for private building records. The Receipt Counter at the ground floor of the BD Headquarters will be reopened between 10am to 4pm on Monday, Wednesday and Friday for receipt of documents from members of the public.
 
     The licensing and registration counter services of the Trade and Industry Department will be resumed on Tuesday and Thursday from 9.45am to 4.45pm starting from August 24.
 
     “If bureaux/departments require more time to make necessary manpower deployments, procure supplies and put in place necessary arrangements, they may resume their services by phases. They will make announcements of their latest service arrangements separately,” said the spokesman.
 
     “In view of the need to reduce people flow and social contacts, bureaux/departments will continue to implement targeted measures while resuming more public services, such as by adopting a roster system to reduce the number of staff working in an office at any one time, or by introducing flexible working hours to reduce staff using public transport during peak hours. We appeal to 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 applications.”
 
     The spokesman appealed to members of the public to use alternative means, such as the post, drop-in boxes or online channels to receive the services they need as much as possible. Meanwhile, if members of the public have to visit government buildings or offices, they should wear surgical masks at all times and comply with the infection control measures implemented by relevant departments including temperature checks and crowd control arrangements.  read more

The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:      The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) wishes to alert members of the public to a press release issued by Livi Bank Limited on suspicious mobile applica… read more

     Two men were fined $4,000 and $20,000 at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts and the Kowloon City Magistrates’ Courts respectively today (August 20) for contravening the Hotel and Guesthouse Accommodation Ordinance.

     The courts heard that in January this year, officers of the Office of the Licensing Authority (OLA), the Home Affairs Department, inspected two suspected unlicensed guesthouses in Yi Pei Square in Tsuen Wan and on Portland Street in Mong Kok. During the inspections, the OLA officers posed as lodgers and successfully rented rooms in these guesthouses on a daily basis.

     According to the OLA’s records, these guesthouses did not possess licences under the Ordinance on the days of inspection. The men responsible for operating and managing the premises were charged with contravening section 5(1) of the Ordinance.

     A department spokesman stressed that operating or managing an unlicensed guesthouse is a criminal offence and can lead to a criminal record. Upon conviction, the offender is liable to a maximum fine of $200,000 and two years’ imprisonment.

     The spokesman appealed to anyone with information about suspected unlicensed guesthouses to report it to the OLA through the hotline (Tel: 2881 7498), by email (hadlaenq@had.gov.hk), by fax (2504 5805) using the report form downloaded from the OLA website (www.hadla.gov.hk), or through the mobile application “Hong Kong Licensed Hotels and Guesthouses”. read more

     The Education Bureau today (August 20) announced that candidates of the Language Proficiency Assessment for Teachers (LPAT) 2020 (written and speaking assessments), held in June and July this year, will receive results notices by post from the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA) starting from tomorrow (August 21). 
 
     A total of 1 213 candidates sat for the English Language papers while 1 124 sat for the Putonghua papers this year.
 
     The results of the assessment are as follows:
 
English Language papers:

	Number of Candidates	Candidates Meeting the LPR* (Level 3 or above) No. and Percentage
Reading	805	721 (89.6%)
Writing	947	475 (50.2%)
Listening	743	582 (78.3%)
Speaking	836	521 (62.3%)

Putonghua papers:

	Number of Candidates	Candidates Meeting the LPR (Level 3 or above) No. and Percentage
Listening and Recognition	962	529 (55.0%)
Pinyin	945	622 (65.8%)
Speaking	443	346 (78.1%)

  * LPR = Language Proficiency Requirement
 
     A spokesman for the EDB said, “The EDB administers the LPAT every year to provide a channel for teachers and people aspiring to be teachers of English or Putonghua to attain the Language Proficiency Requirement (LPR). Candidates of the LPAT include the public and teachers teaching subjects other than the two languages.”
 
     Candidates who have not received the results notices by next Tuesday (August 25) should contact the HKEAA on 3628 8860.
 
     The Assessment Reports, which provide the chief examiners’ observations on candidates’ performance, including their strengths and areas for improvement, will be released in October through the websites of the HKEAA (www.hkeaa.edu.hk) and the Education Bureau (www.edb.gov.hk) for the reference of candidates, schools and teacher education institutions.  The question papers, together with a CD for the listening tests, suggested answers and Assessment Reports, will be available for sale in October.
 
     Applications for rechecking of results will be accepted on or before August 27. Candidates will be informed individually of their appeal results by September 24.
 
     Those who intend to attain the LPR in future can do so through assessment and/or exemption. The next calls for applications to sit for the LPAT and for applications for exemption will be made in September and November 2020 respectively. The details will be made available through an Education Bureau circular memorandum in the 2020/21 school year.
 
     The spokesman added, “Concerning the Classroom Language Assessment (CLA), teachers holding a permanent post have to meet the LPR within the first year of teaching the two languages. Due to the impact of the epidemic, the EDB has already extended the deadline in the 2019/20 school year for one year. Some of the CLA yet to be completed will be conducted in the next school year (2020/21) upon resumption of face-to-face classes. Those candidates who have not yet completed the assessment will be informed of the detailed arrangements. All the results notices will be issued by the end of this year if feasible.” read more