The Home Affairs Department will open 19 temporary night heat shelters tonight (July 11) for people in need of the service.
 
     The shelters will be open from 10.30pm until 8am tomorrow.
 
     For further information, please call the department's hotline before midnight on 2572 8427.
 
     The 19 night heat shelters are located at:
 
Hong Kong Districts:
———————
 
Central and Western –
Sai Ying Pun Community Complex Community Hall
3/F, Sai Ying Pun Community Complex
2 High Street, Sai Ying Pun
 
Eastern –
Causeway Bay Community Centre
3/F, 7 Fook Yum Road, Causeway Bay
 
Southern –
Lei Tung Community Hall
Lei Tung Estate, Ap Lei Chau
 
Wan Chai –
Wan Chai Activities Centre
LG/F, Wan Chai Market, 258 Queen's Road East, Wan Chai
 
Kowloon Districts:
——————
 
Kowloon City –
Hung Hom Community Hall
1/F, Kowloon City Government Offices
42 Bailey Street, Hung Hom
 
Kwun Tong –
Lam Tin (West) Estate Community Centre
71 Kai Tin Road, Lam Tin
 
Sham Shui Po –
Shek Kip Mei Community Hall
G/F, Block 42, Shek Kip Mei Estate, Sham Shui Po
 
Wong Tai Sin –
Tsz Wan Shan (South) Estate Community Centre
45 Wan Wah Street, Tsz Wan Shan
 
Yau Tsim Mong –
Henry G. Leong Yaumatei Community Centre
60 Public Square Street, Yau Ma Tei
 
New Territories Districts:
————————–
 
Islands –
Tung Chung Community Hall
G/F, Tung Chung Municipal Services Building,
39 Man Tung Road, Tung Chung
 
Kwai Tsing –
Kwai Shing Community Hall
Podium, Block 6, Kwai Shing West Estate, Kwai Chung
 
North –
Cheung Wah Community Hall
Cheung Wah Estate, Fanling
 
Sai Kung –
Hang Hau Community Hall
G/F, Sai Kung Tseung Kwan O Government Complex,
38 Pui Shing Road, Hang Hau, Tseung Kwan O
 
Sha Tin –
Lung Hang Estate Community Centre
Lung Hang Estate, Sha Tin
 
Tai Po –
Tai Po Community Centre
2 Heung Sze Wui Street, Tai Po
 
Tsuen Wan –
Lei Muk Shue Community Hall
G/F, Hong Shue House, Lei Muk Shue Estate, Tsuen Wan
 
Tuen Mun –
Butterfly Bay Community Centre
Butterfly Estate (near Tip Sum House), Tuen Mun
 
Yuen Long –
Long Ping Community Hall
Long Ping Estate, Yuen Long
 
Yuen Long –
Tin Yiu Community Centre
Tin Yiu Estate, Tin Shui Wai

     Today (July 11), the Immigration Department learned that a 27-year-old male acting Senior Immigration Assistant who stationed at the Shenzhen Bay Control Point was notified late last night (July 10) to have preliminarily tested positive of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) and was sent to hospital by ambulance.

     The officer concerned is mainly responsible for conducting immigration clearance for passengers at the Shenzhen Bay Control Point. He last performed his duties on July 8 and was on scheduled leave on July 9 and July 10. He sought medical treatment at a government clinic in the morning of July 9 and submitted a test sample in the morning of July 10. He was notified of the preliminarily tested positive result during late night and was sent to the hospital by ambulance for treatment in the early morning of today (July 11).

     The officer concerned has no recent travel history. He has been wearing mask when performing duties, his body temperature was normal and he followed relevant disease prevention measures at work. Currently, the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) is trying to find out the cause of his infection and whether he has been in close contact with other people.

     His workplace has been fully sterilised in accordance with the guidelines of the CHP. The department has also reminded its staff to pay attention to personal hygiene and stay vigilant. If feeling unwell, staff are remined to seek medical advice and inform the department as soon as possible. 

     During the situation of COVID-19 infection, the Department has been strictly implementing various disease prevention measures, including measuring the body temperature of staff before commencing of duties, providing masks and other protective equipment, requiring employees to wear masks when performing duties, and stepping up the cleaning and sterilizing measures of the working environment.

     The Department will continue to maintain close liaison with the CHP and co-operate with the center's quarantine work.

Attention TV/radio announcers:

Please broadcast the following as soon as possible:

Here is an item of interest to swimmers.

     The Leisure and Cultural Services Department announced today (July 11) that due to big waves, red flag has been hoisted at Lower Cheung Sha Beach in Islands District. Beach-goers are advised not to swim at the beach.

     Following is the transcript of remarks made by the Secretary for Food and Health, Professor Sophia Chan, after attending a radio programme today (July 11):

Reporter: Is it even worth the risks now that you are saying major events or mega gatherings all contain risks? Would you advise other government departments and the Trade Development Council to withhold the bookfair event to contain the risks now? My second question is about your assessment about the local infection situation now compared to the second wave in March. What's your assessment comparing to that period? Why are we not having as tight social distancing measures as the previous second wave?

Secretary for Food and Health: First of all, in terms of gatherings, any gatherings, there are certain risks. I think if there are gatherings that need to be held, they must have infection control measures. And also, the people flow must be very carefully orchestrated in order to lower the risks as far as possible. Of course now the epidemic is worrying, therefore we are actually assessing the risks on a daily basis. We are also trying to trace all the confirmed cases as well as all the contacts, whether they are close contacts, contacts of the confirmed cases or contacts of contacts. The Centre for Health Protection colleagues are working tirelessly to do all these. We are also doing a lot of contact tracing with regard to all the confirmed cases, including the places where they live, where they work, their whereabouts, where they go to, for example, markets and shopping malls. We are also trying to do more contact tracing of these confirmed cases' whereabouts. We are also working on testing for target groups, for example the staff of the elderly homes, taxi drivers and also workers of the catering business. 

     Regarding your second question about the social distancing measures, before this outbreak, I have always emphasised that we have entered into a new normal. Therefore, the society would have to understand that the virus is always with us. Looking at the experience of other countries, for example, Japan and Korea, when they go back to the normal life, the epidemic situation and the number of cases have increased. This is expected. But of course in this situation whereby we have in a short time a large number of cases spreading over different places such as elderly homes and small eateries as well as there are taxi drivers infected and also in some of the public housing estates, this is very worrying. But we have experience in handling all these, be it contact tracing, testing, quarantine and isolation. These are our major strategies right now.

     The second strategy is that we have also tightened the social distancing measures. These are the social distancing measures under laws, that is Cap. 599F. But it doesn't mean there are other social distancing measures that the public cannot deploy themselves, for example, wearing masks especially when they are not eating even in a restaurant. There are also other measures. For example, I would appeal to the public to try to stay at home and not to go to gatherings as far as possible, at least at this initial period. After we have continuously assessed the situation, we do not preclude that there will be other measures.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)

     The "Anti-epidemic Support Scheme for Property Management Sector" (ASPM) under the "Anti-epidemic Fund" is open for applications and continues to disburse subsidies.

     As of today (July 11), around 11 800 applications have been received for the ASPM, of which around 10 500 applications have been approved. The approved applications involve subsidies of over $370 million and benefit around 38 000 building blocks and 90 800 front-line property management workers.

     The Government has launched the ASPM under the "Anti-epidemic Fund" to subsidise owners’ organisations or property management companies of eligible residential, composite (i.e. commercial cum residential), industrial and commercial buildings (including shopping malls) to provide the "Anti-epidemic Hardship Allowance" to the front-line property management workers. The ASPM will also provide the "Anti-epidemic Cleansing Subsidy" to owners' organisations or property management companies. The Government enhanced the ASPM on May 30, 2020. In particular, the subsidised period has been extended for three more months to August 2020, and the cap on headcounts for the "Anti-epidemic Hardship Allowance" to be received by the front-line property management workers have been relaxed to 100 per eligible building block.

     The application deadline for the ASPM is July 15. Eligible owners' organisations and property management companies are reminded to submit their applications to the Property Management Services Authority (PMSA) as soon as practicable. For details on the ASPM, please contact the PMSA at 3696 1156 or 3696 1166, or visit the website of the PMSA (aspm.pmsahk.org.hk).