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Here is an item of interest to swimmers.

     The Leisure and Cultural Services Department announced today (May 23) that due to big waves, red flags have been hoisted at Stanley Main Beach and Shek O Beach in Southern District, Hong Kong Island.  Beach-goers are advised not to swim at these beaches.

     Three charities have been issued Public Subscription Permits to hold flag sales on Hong Kong Island, in Kowloon and in the New Territories separately from 7am to 12.30pm today (May 23). The Social Welfare Department (SWD) has been informed by two of the charities that the regional flag-selling activities scheduled to be held by them have been cancelled, a spokesman for the SWD said.
 
     Information on the regional flag-selling activity today is as follows:
 

 
     Contact information for the organisations that have cancelled regional flag-selling activities is as follows:
 

 
     For enquiries, please call the SWD's hotline at 2343 2255, or the designated hotline of the 1823 Call Centre at 3142 2678. Information on flag days is available at the SWD's website (www.swd.gov.hk/en/index/site_whatsnew) and the GovHK portal (www.gov.hk/en/theme/fundraising/search). Permits for flag days containing contact information of the flag-selling organisations and information on the approved flag-selling activities have also been uploaded to the SWD's website (www.swd.gov.hk/tc/index/site_pubsvc/page_controlofc/sub_flagdays/).
 
     Details of the charitable fund-raising activities covered by the Public Subscription Permit issued by the SWD have also been uploaded to the GovHK website (www.gov.hk/fundraising).
 
     If any flag day activity is suspected to be fraudulent, people should not make any donation and should immediately report the matter to the Police, the spokesman added.

     The Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, together with Principal Officials and Members of the Executive Council, met the media today (May 22). Following is the transcript of remarks of the media session.
 
Reporter: Hi Mrs Lam. First of all your statement, your reassurances as well as members of the pro-establishment camp. They came throughout today, and they actually came before the market closed. We didn’t see any recovery in stock markets, because of the national security proposal, and also we saw that AmCham (the American Chamber of Commerce) issued a statement voicing concerns that, for business prospects, concerns for expats here, concerns for the business environment and freedoms here in Hong Kong. So how are you going to reassure the international business community, investors and members of the public that the city remains an international city with all its freedoms, online freedom, freedom of speech and autonomy intact?
 
     My second question is that, you’ve been saying, you’ve been trying to create the right atmosphere to enact Article 23 national security legislation. Have you been pushing for that? Did you tell Beijing that you can do it? Or did you just give up? My third question is that you’ve been stressing that the national security legislation introduced today, by Beijing today, is meant to help safeguard people’s interests as well, so people can feel safe. Do you actually expect the protest violence will end because of the introduction of this legislation? What about the resistance? What about concerns by, do you expect the protests to just gonna stop? Are you going to ignore voices who are concerned about this legislation? Thank you.
      
Chief Executive: As far as the financial markets’ reaction to this sort of incidents, I think we need not be over-worried because the stock market goes up and comes down. What is important is the robustness of Hong Kong’s regulatory system and I’ve been assured by the Financial Secretary and we have also the Chairwoman of the Hong Kong exchange here that the system is robust as ever, so we need not be unduly concerned. As far as the chambers’ reaction, you have quoted the public response by one of the chambers but I have also read press statements issued by some of the Hong Kong local chambers who felt very much like what I have said, that especially having gone through almost one year of disruptions, violence and uncertainties, anything particularly in safeguarding national security that will help stabilise the environment is indeed very good for local investment sentiment. So, as usual, there are different views and different responses. At the end of the day we have to ask ourselves, for a place like Hong Kong, which is an inalienable part of the People’s Republic of China, could we do without that sort of system to enhance our ability to protect national security? I think the answer must be no. And since we could not do it on our own after 23 years, then this is a time for decisive actions to be taken by the Central Authorities.
 
     Then I come to the second part of your question. I’m about to finish my third year in office as the Chief Executive. I did say at the very beginning that enacting local legislation for national security under Basic Law Article 23 is a constitutional duty of the Hong Kong SAR Government and myself as the Chief Executive. I have made attempts, some serious attempts, to try to create a better environment, which means that the Government needs to work with parties across the political spectrum in order to create that sort of more conducive environment for doing something which has proven to be very controversial about 16, 17 years ago. But unfortunately, despite a pretty peaceful start for a while, the relationship turned very difficult once we touched on sensitive issues that have a Mainland angle, and you know what I mean. I have been trying my best but since we could not do it, I don’t think we could do it in the foreseeable future, both in the Executive as well as the Legislature. I don’t know whether your term “giving up” is a right term. I’m not giving up but now there is another way of ensuring that Hong Kong will have the necessary legislation and the safeguards in place for national security.
      
     For the third question, Hong Kong is a free society. Hong Kong will remain to be a very free society, where freedom of expression, freedom of protest, freedom of journalism will stay because these are the core values of Hong Kong and are very much protected by the Basic Law. I do not expect that protests will end. There will be protests of all sorts in Hong Kong as we have seen, but the important thing is for the people of Hong Kong to realise that without protection of national security, many of the things that we enjoy, many of the things that we treasure, will be lost. This is really the time for us not to waste any more time and to get on with these important legislative safeguards. Thank you.
 
Reporter: Excuse me Mrs Lam. Can you address the concerns by AmCham? Are you just gonna adhere to other chambers of commerce, other businesses who support the legislation and push aside the concerns of……
 
Chief Executive: No, everybody can come to us with their concerns and we will try to address their concerns. But as I have explained in response to another question, we are at the very, very early stage of this process. There is now a draft resolution in front of the National People’s Congress, which is part of the first step, and then we’ll move on to the second step, which is the drafting of the necessary legislation, and it was made very clear that in the course of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee in drafting the legislation, they will take into account the exact situation in Hong Kong, and that is the occasion for us to put forward any concerns that require the Central Authorities to respond. But of course if there are other concerns that we can immediately respond to, we are very happy to do that.

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

    

     Hong Kong Customs consecutively detected four trafficking cases of suspected cannabis and products suspected of containing tetrahydro-cannabinol (THC) in nearly one month. A total of about 553 grams of products suspected of containing THC and about two grams of suspected herbal cannabis with an estimated market value of about $60,000 were seized at Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) and Sau Mau Ping on April 17, April 23, May 13 and yesterday (May 21) respectively.

     Customs officers inspected four air postal packets arriving in Hong Kong, of which three of them are from the United States and one from the United Kingdom, on April 17, April 23 and May 13 at HKIA. About 500 grams of candies suspected of containing THC, about 45 grams of solution suspected of containing THC and about one gram of suspected herbal cannabis were found.

     After follow-up investigation, Customs officers yesterday arrested a 26-year-old man suspected to be in connection with the case in Sau Mau Ping. Customs officers escorted the arrested man to a residential premises in the district and further seized about eight grams of solution suspected of containing THC and about one gram of herbal cannabis. The arrested man has been released on bail pending further investigation.

     From January to April this year, Customs detected a total of 12 cases involving products containing THC and seized about 64 kilograms of relevant products, including candies, chocolates and electronic vape pens, with an estimated market value of about $400,000. Customs also detected a total of 28 cannabis cases, with seizures of about 98 kilograms of cannabis worth at about $21 million.

     Customs reminds members of the public that cannabis and THC are classified as dangerous drugs under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance (DDO). Importation of products (including food and drinks) containing cannabis or THC into Hong Kong is prohibited unless the relevant provisions in the DDO are complied with. In order to avoid breaching the law inadvertently, special attention should be paid to the packaging labels of relevant products.

     Under the DDO, trafficking in a dangerous drug is a serious offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $5 million and life imprisonment.

     Members of the public may report any suspected drug trafficking activities to Customs' 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk).

    

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     The spokesperson for Queen Mary Hospital (QMH) made the following announcement today (May 22) concerning the alarm of a negative pressure system in an isolation ward:
 
     At 11.35am today, the alarm of a negative pressure system was triggered in an isolation ward of QMH. Staff of the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) were informed immediately for on-site inspection. It was suspected that the repair work for the ventilation system outside the ward might have triggered the alarm. The preliminary assessment indicated that the air pressure in the anterooms of three single isolation rooms inside the ward had changed, but the negative pressure of each single isolation room remained normal and fulfilled the infection control standard. The system resumed normal operation at 12.10pm after checking.
 
     During the incident, a confirmed COVID-19 patient was admitted to a single isolation room and stayed in the room all along. No healthcare workers were inside the room. All doors of the rooms in the isolation ward had been kept closed. The healthcare staff had all worn appropriate personal protective equipment and no high-risk procedure was performed inside the ward. There were no visitors either. The infection risk has been assessed to be very low.
 
     The hospital is highly concerned about the incident and has reported it to the Hospital Authority Head Office via the Advance Incident Reporting System. QMH has urged the EMSD to conduct an investigation to prevent similar incidents from happening again.