In view of the local epidemic situation and the need to reduce people flow and social contacts, a spokesman for the Government announced today (August 13) that the special work arrangement for government employees will be extended for one week until August 23. Save for those involved in the provision of emergency services and essential public services, all other government employees will continue to work from home. In the coming week, government departments will closely monitor the development of the epidemic and keep the provision of various public services under review so as to make preparations for the gradual resumption of more services.

     "The special work arrangement has been implemented for almost a month. Taking into account the need to fight the virus for the whole community, the provision of many public services has been reduced to a various extent, or the waiting time for public services has been lengthened, or a longer time has been taken to complete the processing of the applications, which have affected and caused inconvenience to the public. We appeal for their understanding," the spokesman said. 

     "The fight against the virus is a prolonged exercise. In the coming week, we will continue to closely monitor the development of the epidemic and keep the provision of various public services under review. When the epidemic situation further stabilises, government departments will resume the provision of other basic public services gradually. Individual government departments will announce the latest arrangements of their services separately in due course."  

     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, members of the public should wear surgical masks at all times when they are entering or are present in any government buildings or offices, and comply with the infection control measures implemented by relevant departments including temperature checks and crowd control arrangements.

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     The spokesperson for United Christian Hospital (UCH) today (August 13) announced that a 74-year-old female COVID-19 confirmed patient (case number: 1940) passed away today.
 
     The patient, with chronic illness, was admitted to UCH on July 17 due to persistent cough and difficulty breathing. Her condition continued to deteriorate and she eventually succumbed at 2.35pm today.
 
     The Hospital is saddened about the passing away of the patient and will offer necessary assistance to her family.
 
     Including the above patient, 65 COVID-19 patients have passed away in public hospitals so far.

     Police are investigating a fatal traffic accident in Cheung Sha Wan this morning (August 13) in which an 87-year-old man died.

     At about 6.55am, a public bus driven by a 49-year-old man was travelling along Cornwall Street eastbound. When approaching near the junction of Cornwall Street and Tat Hong Avenue, it reportedly knocked down the 87-year-old male pedestrian who was crossing the road.

     Sustaining serious head and shoulder injuries. the 87-year-old man was rushed to Princess Margaret Hospital in unconscious state and was certified dead at 8.37am.

     The public bus driver was arrested for dangerous driving causing death and is being detained for further enquiries.

     Active investigation by the Special Investigation Team of Traffic, Kowloon West is underway.

     Anyone who witnessed the accident or has any information to offer is urged to contact the investigating officers at 3661 9058 or 3661 9000.

     According to the statistics released by the Census and Statistics Department today (August 13), the provisional estimate of the Hong Kong population was 7 509 200 at mid-2020. The population remained virtually unchanged, as compared with that at mid-2019 (Table 1).
          
     Population increase comprises natural increase (i.e. births less deaths) and net movement of Hong Kong residents (i.e. inflow less outflow). The natural increase of the population from mid-2019 to mid-2020 was 600, with 49 500 births and 48 900 deaths. Over the same period, a net movement of 1 200 persons was recorded, with an inflow of 22 100 One-way Permit holders and a net outflow of 20 900 other Hong Kong residents. Due to the suspension of passenger clearance services at the Lo Wu Control Point under the COVID-19 epidemic since February 4, 2020, the inflow of One-way Permit holders dropped significantly by 50.2% when compared with the 44 400 during the same period a year ago.
 
     The Hong Kong population is measured on the definition of Resident Population, which comprises Usual Residents and Mobile Residents. Among the total population at mid-2020, 7 355 800 (provisional) were Usual Residents and 153 400 (provisional) were Mobile Residents.
 
     "Usual Residents" refer to two categories of people: (1) Hong Kong Permanent Residents who have stayed in Hong Kong for at least three months during the six months before or for at least three months during the six months after the reference time-point, regardless of whether they are in Hong Kong or not at the reference time-point; and (2) Hong Kong Non-permanent Residents who are in Hong Kong at the reference time-point.
 
     For those Hong Kong Permanent Residents who are not "Usual Residents", they are classified as "Mobile Residents" if they have stayed in Hong Kong for at least one month but less than three months during the six months before or for at least one month but less than three months during the six months after the reference time-point, regardless of whether they are in Hong Kong or not at the reference time-point.
 
     The revised figure for the year-end population for 2019 was 7 520 800. The number of Usual Residents was revised to 7 365 300 and the number of Mobile Residents to 155 500. The population growth rate from end-2018 to end-2019 was also revised to 0.5%.
 
     The population figures for recent years are shown in Table 2.
 
     Under the current practice, the latest population figure is released on a provisional basis in each round. The revised figure will be released six months later. In other words, while the provisional population figure for mid-2020 is released today, the corresponding revised figure will be released in February 2021.

     Further to the external merchandise trade statistics in value terms for June 2020 released earlier on, the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) released today (August 13) the volume and price statistics of external merchandise trade for that month.
 
     In June 2020, the volume of Hong Kong's total exports of goods and imports of goods decreased by 0.6% and 6.3% respectively over June 2019.
 
     Comparing the first half of 2020 with the same period in 2019, the volume of Hong Kong’s total exports of goods and imports of goods decreased by 6.2% and 8.5% respectively.
 
     Comparing the second quarter of 2020 with the preceding quarter on a seasonally adjusted basis, the volume of total exports of goods and imports of goods increased by 5.5% and 0.9% respectively.
 
     Changes in volume of external merchandise trade are derived from changes in external merchandise trade value with the effect of price changes discounted.
 
     Comparing June 2020 with June 2019, the prices of total exports of goods and imports of goods both decreased by 0.8%.
 
     As regards price changes in the first half of 2020 over the same period in 2019, the prices of total exports of goods and imports of goods decreased by 0.8% and 0.7% respectively.
 
     Price changes in external merchandise trade are reflected by changes in unit value indices of external merchandise trade, which are compiled based on average unit values or, for certain commodities, specific price data.
 
     The terms of trade index is derived from the ratio of price index of total exports of goods to that of imports of goods. Compared with the same periods in 2019, the index increased by 0.1% in June 2020, whereas it decreased by 0.1% in the first half of 2020.

     Changes in the unit value and volume of total exports of goods by main destination are shown in Table 1.
 
     Comparing June 2020 with June 2019, double-digit declines were recorded for the total export volume to India (-36.1%), the USA (-18.2%) and Japan (-16.3%). On the other hand, the total export volume to the mainland of China (the Mainland) (8.3%) and Taiwan (22.2%) increased.
 
     Over the same period of comparison, the total export prices to the USA (-2.7%), India (-2.4%), Japan (-1.9%) and Taiwan (-0.3%) decreased. On the other hand, the total export prices to the Mainland increased by 0.5%.
 
     Changes in the unit value and volume of imports of goods by main supplier are shown in Table 2.
 
     Comparing June 2020 with June 2019, a double-digit decline of 11.2% was recorded for the import volume from Japan. Concurrently, the import volume from Korea (-6.7%) and the Mainland (-4.9%) also decreased. On the other hand, the import volume from Singapore (3.6%) and Taiwan (17.9%) increased.
 
     Over the same period of comparison, the import prices from Singapore (-5.4%), Taiwan (-2.7%), Korea (-2.5%) and the Mainland (-0.9%) decreased. On the other hand, the import prices from Japan increased by 1.6%.
 
Further information
 
     Details of the above statistics are published in the June 2020 issue of "Hong Kong Merchandise Trade Index Numbers". Users can download the publication free of charge at the website of the C&SD (www.censtatd.gov.hk/hkstat/sub/sp230.jsp?productCode=B1020006).
 
     Enquiries on merchandise trade indices may be directed to the Trade Analysis Section (1) of the C&SD (Tel.: 2582 4918).