To tie in with the Government's announcement that special work arrangements for government employees to provide emergency and essential services will be extended until August 16, a spokesman for the Transport and Housing Bureau said today (August 7) that during the period, the Independent Checking Unit (ICU) under the Office of the Permanent Secretary for Transport and Housing (Housing) will provide drop-in boxes to receive building control applications related to building plan submissions under the Buildings Ordinance and the specified forms and supporting documents required to be submitted under the Minor Works Control System, the Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme and the Mandatory Window Inspection Scheme. Applicants can place their submissions in the drop-in boxes located at 8/F, Lung Cheung Office Block, Lung Cheung Road, Wong Tai Sin, Kowloon, from 10am to 4pm, Monday to Friday over the period. The ICU will issue receipts/acknowledgements of the submissions in due course. Members of the public, when entering Lung Cheung Office Block and offices of the ICU, shall wear masks at all times and comply with infection control measures including temperature checks and crowd control arrangements.

     For emergency reports and general enquiries, people may call 1823 or inform the ICU by email, post or fax:

Email: icuebt@hd.gov.hk 
Mailing address: 8/F, Lung Cheung Office Block, Lung Cheung Road, Wong Tai Sin, Kowloon
Fax: 3162 0069
 
     Furthermore, appeal hearings on the termination of tenancy agreements scheduled from August 10 to August 14 will be rescheduled. The Secretariat of the Appeal Panel (Housing) will inform the parties concerned separately.

     In view of the extension of the special work arrangements for government employees until August 16, the Buildings Department (BD) announced today (August 7) that it will continue to provide emergency and essential public services during this period. The services will be mainly handling public reports on building safety and unauthorised building works in progress, critical statutory submissions for new developments, registration of building professionals and contractors, advisory services for licensing authorities and implementation of Operation Building Bright 2.0.
 
     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 collection of the specified forms and supporting documents required to be submitted under the Minor Works Control System, the Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme and the Mandatory Window Inspection Scheme; applications for registration and renewal of registration of building professionals and contractors under the Buildings Ordinance; and documents for compliance with statutory orders or directions issued by the BD (e.g. investigation reports, remedial works proposals and completion reports) from 10am to 4pm from Monday to Friday;
 
2. A tender/quotation box located at the ground floor of the BD Headquarters for receiving tender/quotation documents from 8.30am to 5.30pm from Monday to Friday; and
 
3. A drop-in counter located at the office of the BD's New Buildings Division at 7/F, 14 Taikoo Wan Road, Taikoo Shing, Hong Kong, for receiving statutory applications and related documents and forms for new building works and returning the processed plans and related documents to the applicants from 9.30am to 2.30pm on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
 
     The department will issue receipts/acknowledgements of submissions in due course. However, the handling time of the above services may be longer than usual.
    
     The Building Information Centre and all receipt counters, dispatch counters, general enquiry counters and 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 other reports, they 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 may be submitted to the BD via receipt@bd.gov.hk.

The following is issued on behalf of the Judiciary:
 
     The Judiciary today (August 7) announced that after reviewing the latest situation, Kowloon City Magistrates' Courts will resume handling fresh remand cases from next Monday (August 10).

     For enquiries, the following hotline will be operated from Monday to Friday 8.45am to 12.30pm and from 2pm to 5pm (except public holidays):

Magistrates' Courts: 2677 8373

     â€‹The Judiciary will continue to strictly enforce appropriate preventive and crowd management measures. These measures include enhanced cleansing and disinfection of public areas, requiring all people entering the Judiciary premises to undergo body temperature checks and wear surgical masks at all times unless otherwise directed by the judge, expansion of registry/office areas as far as possible, and putting in place necessary queuing, ticketing or other crowd management arrangements to regulate the people flow and avoid crowding.

     In line with the extension of the special work arrangements announced by the Government, the Government Records Service (GRS) today (August 7) announced that during the period from August 10 to 16, the Search Room of the Public Records Office (PRO) will only open on Wednesday (August 12) from 9am to 1pm for users who have made a reservation for holdings through the online catalogue. The quota is four users, and it will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Public services to be provided will be limited to:
 
1. Loan and circulation service for reserved holdings; and
2. Self-service reproduction of holdings.
 
     The above services will be suspended for those who have not made an online reservation for holdings. Meanwhile, users should wear surgical masks at all times when they are inside the Hong Kong Public Records Building, and follow the infection control measures implemented by the GRS including temperature checks upon entering the building and applying hand sanitiser.
 
     The Exhibition Hall in the Hong Kong Public Records Building will continue to be closed. Visits and public education programmes are suspended until further notice.
 
     The above measures will be implemented until August 16 and will be reviewed. Members of the public may visit the GRS website (www.grs.gov.hk) and the PRO Facebook page (www.facebook.com/grs.publicrecordsoffice) for updates. For enquiries, please email proinfo@grs.gov.hk.

     The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) today (August 7) announced that in view of a recent preliminary confirmed case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) found to be related to Tai Po Hui Market, to safeguard the health and safety of market stall tenants and the public, the market will be closed an hour earlier today at 7pm for deep cleaning and disinfection.

     During the period, 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, with a view to improving the overall hygiene condition of the market. In addition, the FEHD will carry out deep cleaning work at the periphery of the market and nearby streets. The cleaning and disinfection work is expected to last about four hours.

     A spokesman for the FEHD 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 a thorough cleaning in all markets after the markets are closed every day. 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.

     "Moreover, starting from late July, the FEHD has progressively arranged a voluntary one-off free COVID-19 testing service for staff of market stalls and personnel working in markets. No online registration is required. The FEHD works closely with the testing agency to determine the priority of various markets with reference to a risk-based approach and manpower resources. The agency has distributed specimen bottles to operators of market stalls or personnel working in Tai Po Hui Market.”

     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.