To align with the special work arrangements announced by the Government to stop COVID-19 from further spreading in the community, the Department of Justice announced today (July 19) that the following basic and essential services will be provided:

* Reception Counters

Prosecutions Division – 12/F, West Wing, Justice Place, 18 Lower Albert Road, Central
July 20 to 24, 2020 (Monday to Friday)
9am to 1pm and 2pm to 6pm

Civil Division – 6/F, East Wing, Justice Place, 18 Lower Albert Road, Central
July 20 to 24, 2020 (Monday to Friday)
9am to 1pm and 2pm to 6pm

* Shroff Office

Civil Division – 8/F, West Wing, Justice Place, 18 Lower Albert Road, Central
July 21, 2020 (Tuesday) and July 23, 2020 (Thursday)
9am to 1pm and 2pm to 4.30pm

     Members of the public and the legal profession can continue to serve or submit court documents and other correspondence in matters handled by the two Divisions to the respective counters and make payment to the Shroff Office. While the documents will be processed as quickly as possible, the response time may be longer than usual.

     Meanwhile, the selection interview for the Court Prosecutor Recruitment Exercise scheduled for July 20 to 24 will be postponed until further notice. A further announcement will be made later this week for the selection interview scheduled for July 27 to 30.

     In light of the latest developments of COVID-19, the Civil Engineering and Development Department announced today (July 19) that the following public services will be suspended from tomorrow (July 20) until July 26:

     (1) the Civil Engineering Library;
     (2) applications for dumping licences and sand removal permits; and
     (3) the Permit and Licensing Office of the Mines Division. 

     The CEDD will closely monitor the epidemic situation and review the arrangement in due course.

     In view of the latest situation of COVID-19, the Water Supplies Department (WSD) announced today (July 19) that it will provide emergency services and essential public services. The arrangements for affected public services of the WSD commencing tomorrow (July 20) are as follows:
 
* The Customer Enquiries Centre (CEC) in Wan Chai will continue to be open with opening hours from 10am to 4pm from Monday to Friday. The CECs in Tai Kok Tsui, Sha Tin, Tai Po and Tuen Mun will be closed;
 
* The Document Management Centre located on the 43/F of Immigration Tower, Wan Chai, will continue to receive submissions of documents, including water supply applications and plumbing proposals. Processing of these submissions will be prioritised according to their category, urgency and other factors;
 
* The 24-hour Customer Services Hotline (2824 5000) will handle emergency and general enquiries as normal. Enquiries on account matters will be diverted to voice mail and the enquires will be replied to as soon as possible;
 
* The H2OPE Centre (Water Resources Public Education Centre) will continue to be closed; and
 
* Routine meter readings will be suspended. For customers with the billing cycles of their accounts ending during the period, the WSD will issue water bills to them after resumption of routine meter readings with water consumption assessed according to the last and the latest actual meter readings for the combined period of the relevant billing cycles for issue of the water bills.

     The arrangements above will be effective until further notice.

     The nomination period for the 2020 Legislative Council General Election runs from July 18 to 31. Nomination forms are accepted from 9am to 5pm, Mondays to Fridays, and from 9am to noon on Saturdays.

     A spokesman for the Registration and Electoral Office (REO) stressed that in view of the latest situation of COVID-19 and public health considerations, prevention and crowd management measures will be implemented at the offices of the Returning Officers. Candidates can refer to the 'Points to Note for Submission of Nomination Forms' (https://www.eac.hk/pdf/legco/2020lc/Points_to_Note_for_Submission_of_Nomination_Forms(Eng).pdf) for details.

     Nomination forms are available at the offices of the REO at 10/F, Harbour Centre, 25 Harbour Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong, or Unit 2301-03, 23/F, Millennium City 6, 392 Kwun Tong Road, Kwun Tong, Kowloon. They can also be downloaded from the election website (www.elections.gov.hk).

     Copies of the nomination forms are available for public inspection at the offices of the Returning Officers for geographical constituencies and functional constituencies during ordinary business hours after the start of the nomination period. Members of the public may also inspect copies of the nomination forms of all the functional constituency elections at the REO office at Unit 2301-03, 23/F, Millennium City 6, 392 Kwun Tong Road, Kwun Tong, Kowloon.

     The inspection arrangements for the final registers for geographical constituencies, functional constituencies (other than the District Council (second) functional constituency) and Election Committee subsectors as promulgated earlier on July 17 remain unchanged.

     â€‹For enquiries, please call the REO hotline on 2891 1001.

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     As at noon today (July 19), 20 COVID-19 confirmed patients (case numbers: 1205, 1220, 1274, 1282, 1295, 1300, 1304, 1318, 1330, 1356, 1357, 1376, 1391, 1437, 1455, 1506, 1512, 1518, 1527 and 1530) were discharged from hospital in the past 24 hours. So far, a total of 1,294 patients with confirmed or probable infection have been discharged.
 
     At present, there are 650 negative pressure rooms in public hospitals with 1,207 negative pressure beds activated. A total of 463 confirmed patients are currently hospitalised in 14 hospitals, among which 19 patients are in critical condition (case numbers: 595, 1315, 1338, 1346, 1401, 1424, 1428, 1483, 1485, 1491, 1497, 1562, 1630, 1640, 1679, 1680, 1710, 1718 and 1730), 11 are in serious condition (case numbers: 1269, 1306, 1322, 1348, 1439, 1443, 1449, 1470, 1557, 1661 and 1767) and the remaining 433 patients are in stable condition.
 
     The Hospital Authority will maintain close contact with the Centre for Health Protection to monitor the latest developments and to inform the public and healthcare workers on the latest information in a timely manner.