The Government announced that the special work arrangement for government employees will be extended for one week until August 2. The Highways Department said today (July 23) that it will continue to provide essential and emergency public road repair services including daily inspections of expressways and emergency road repairs. It will also arrange for its contractors to continue to enhance the cleansing work for the handrails of footbridges, subways and escalators, as well as the buttons of lifts, under the department's purview.

     The Reporting Centre of the Highways Department will maintain operation to handle road repair matters. For any suggestions, enquiries or complaints on the services, members of the public may continue to call the 24-hour hotline 2926 4111 or call 1823. Priority is given to emergency incidents. Public may also contact Highways Department by email or by fax. Details are as follows:

Email addresses :
enquiry@hyd.gov.hk (for enquiries)
complaint@hyd.gov.hk (for complaints)

Fax numbers :
2714 5216 (for enquiries)
2187 2243 (for complaints)

     In accordance with the implementation of special work arrangement of the Government, the Lands Department (LandsD) today (July 23) announced that arrangement would be made for staff to work from home as far as possible to achieve social distancing more effectively with a view to reducing the risk of spread of novel coronavirus in the community.  All LandsD offices would continue to provide basic public services on limited scale up to August 2.  Services for receipt and delivery of documents at counters and enquiry telephone lines will be provided between 1pm and 5pm on Monday, Wednesday and Friday during this period. The LandsD headquarters at North Point Government Offices will open only the counter on the 21st floor during the above opening hours. Other counter services, including counter enquiries, payment of government rent and premium, map sales counters, collection of compensation for land resumption, depositing of land boundary plans and survey record plans, and inspection of a full list of Authorised Land Surveyors, will be suspended. Online services would be maintained as normal. Members of the public may continue to make enquiries or complaints through email.

     An appeal is made to the public to minimise visiting LandsD's offices in person unless necessary. The public can purchase most map products from Hong Kong Map Service 2.0 and can pay government rent and file enquiries or complaints as well as requests for service online or through other electronic means. Due to the special work arrangements, the processing of various enquiries, complaints and applications may be delayed and it may take a longer time to provide a reply.  The department apologises for any inconvenience caused.

     A total of eight nomination forms for the 2020 Legislative Council General Election were received today (July 23) by the Returning Officers for the five geographical constituencies and the 29 functional constituencies.
 
     This brings to 70 the total number of nomination forms received since the start of the nomination period on July 18. The nomination period will continue until July 31.
 
     The number of nomination forms received for each geographical constituency is as follows:
 

     The number of nomination forms received for each functional constituency is as follows:
 

     Particulars of the nominees will be available on the election website (www.elections.gov.hk/legco2020/eng/nominat.html).

     â€‹In light of the latest developments of COVID-19, there is a need to put in place measures to further reduce social contact. The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) today (July 23) announced that starting from next Monday (July 27), licensing services counters at Cheung Sha Wan Government Offices (CSWGO) and the Marine Parks Office at CDW Building, 388 Castle Peak Road, Tsuen Wan, will be suspended until further notice.

     The AFCD appeals to the public to handle their licence or permit applications online or through email, post or fax. Relevant documents can also be put in the drop-in box placed at the ground floor of CSWGO. For detailed information and contacts, please refer to the AFCD website: www.afcd.gov.hk.

     Moreover, the provision of anti-rabies dog inoculation and dog licensing services conducted by the Animal Management Centres under the AFCD will also be suspended starting from next Monday until further notice, whereas all other Anti-Rabies Dog Inoculation and Licensing Centres have been closed earlier. For enquiries, please call 9448 1832. For details, please visit the designated website: www.pets.gov.hk.

     Meanwhile, AFCD public facilities including the Hong Kong Wetland Park, eight Country Park Visitor/Education Centres, seven Hong Kong Geopark Visitor Centres and the Endangered Species Resource Centre will remain temporarily closed.

     For enquiries, please call the AFCD on 2708 8885.

     In view of the extension of the special work arrangements for government employees for one week until August 2, a spokesperson for the Social Welfare Department (SWD) today (July 23) announced that the SWD's service units providing direct public services for members of the public will continue to only maintain their provision of emergency services and essential services.

     While the departmental hotline service will be in operation as normal, other services such as those of the Integrated Family Service Centres (IFSCs) and the Social Security Field Units (SSFUs) will only be provided on a limited scale.

     The SSFUs are temporarily closed to the public but maintain services on a limited scale through other modes of service delivery. Relevant application forms are provided next to the drop-in boxes of the SSFUs and can be downloaded from the SWD's website (www.swd.gov.hk). Completed forms can be returned to the relevant SSFUs by post, fax or email or through the drop-in boxes of the SSFUs. After receiving the applications, the SSFU staff will contact applicants for processing their applications. For enquiries, please call the SSFU staff on duty during office hours.

     The IFSCs will continue to be open to the public but will only provide casework services with extended hours service suspended.

     Service users are advised to call the hotline on 2343 2255 for details of service provision. To reduce the risk of infection arising from gatherings of people, service users are advised to contact the staff of the service units by telephone in advance, so that interviews can be scheduled as appropriate. All visitors must put on masks, have their body temperature checked and maintain social distancing.
     
     Meanwhile, the SWD has strengthened infection control at all service units. Staff will be reminded to follow necessary infection control measures.