The Social Welfare Department (SWD) has approved 116 organisations, out of 221 applications received, to hold flag days to raise funds for their charitable projects on 49 Saturdays and nine Wednesdays, which fall on school or public holidays in 2020-21 (see Annex for details). Flag sales will be conducted from 7am to 12.30pm on the approved flag days.
 
     A spokesman for the SWD said today (March 31) that in order to allow more organisations to conduct flag sales, 29 flag days have been assigned as Regional Flag Days in 2020-21. On each Regional Flag Day, three organisations will sell flags to solicit donations concurrently, one each on Hong Kong Island, in Kowloon and in the New Territories.
 
     The spokesman said that for easy identification, flag day organisers are required to put on the money collection bags the name of the organisation and the mark "Approved by Social Welfare Department". As well, some approved flag day organisers will also use Octopus card readers on their allocated flag days, with the pouches bearing the name of the respective organisations and the statement "Approved by Social Welfare Department".
 
     The spokesman appealed to flag day organisers to take precautions against any possible fraud. They should make a report to the SWD and inform the Police following any loss of property, and seek their help if fraudulent acts such as tampering with collection bags or unauthorised fundraising are found.
 
     Members of the public can visit the SWD's homepage (www.swd.gov.hk) and the GovHK website (www.gov.hk/fundraising) if they wish to check information on flag days. They are also welcome to call the SWD hotline at 2343 2255, or the designated hotline of the 1823 Call Centre at 3142 2678.
 
     The spokesman also said that the Government has promulgated the "Good Practice Guide on Charitable Fund-raising" to facilitate the charities to improve the transparency and accountability of their charitable fund-raising activities. The Good Practice Guide covers areas on donors' rights, fund-raising practices and financial accountability. The Good Practice Guide can be accessed on the SWD homepage.

     The Government announced today (March 31) that the income and asset limits of the Working Family Allowance (WFA) Scheme would be raised from April 1, 2020 (details at Annex).

     Under the WFA Scheme, the claim period of an application covers the immediate past six calendar months before the submission of the application, and an eligible household has to submit an application for every claim period. The raised limits will be applicable to claim months from April 2020 to March 2021.

     A household meeting the requirements on working hours as well as income and asset limits may apply for the corresponding allowance. Each eligible child may also be granted a Child Allowance. The working hour requirements for single parents are lower. Details are tabulated below:
 

Notes: All household members are allowed to aggregate their working hours for WFA applications. The WFA Scheme also covers singleton households.

     Furthermore, the Chief Executive's 2019 Policy Address proposed that all rates of WFA would be increased consequential to the improvement measures of the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) Scheme. The relevant recommendation will be implemented in tandem with the CSSA improvement measures subject to the approval of the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council. The implementation timetable will be announced in due course.  

     For enquiries, applicants may call the 24-hour hotline (2558 3000) of the Working Family Allowance Office of the Working Family and Student Financial Assistance Agency.

     The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department today (March 31) released the findings of its food safety report for the last month. The results of about 10 100 food samples tested were satisfactory except for eight samples that were announced earlier. The overall satisfactory rate was 99.9 per cent.
 
     A CFS spokesman said about 900 food samples were collected for microbiological tests, some 1 700 samples were taken for chemical tests and the remaining 7 500 (including about 7 200 taken from food imported from Japan) were collected to test radiation levels.
 
     The microbiological tests covered pathogens and hygiene indicators, while the chemical tests included pesticides, preservatives, metallic contaminants, colouring matters, veterinary drug residues and others.
 
     The samples comprised about 2 700 samples of vegetables and fruit and their products; 500 samples of cereals, grains and their products; 400 samples of meat and poultry and their products; 600 samples of milk, milk products and frozen confections; 1 100 samples of aquatic and related products; and 4 800 samples of other food commodities (including beverages, bakery products and snacks).
 
     The eight unsatisfactory samples comprised five frozen confection samples detected with excessive counts of hygiene indicator organisms; a taro sample found to contain excessive lead; an asparagus sample detected with excessive cadmium and a vegetable sample found to contain excessive pesticide residue.
 
     The CFS has taken follow-up action on the unsatisfactory samples including informing the vendors concerned of the test results, instructing them to stop selling the affected food items and tracing the sources of the food items in question.
 
     The spokesman reminded the food trade to ensure that food for sale is fit for human consumption and meets legal requirements. Consumers should patronise reliable shops when buying food and maintain a balanced diet to minimise food risks.

     The Labour Department (LD) is investigating a fatal work accident in Tseung Kwan O this morning (March 31), in which a man died.
 
     The LD immediately deployed staff to the scene upon receiving a report of the accident, and is now conducting an investigation to look into its cause.

Attention duty announcers, radio and TV stations:

     Please broadcast the following as soon as possible and repeat it at suitable intervals:

     The Marine Department today (March 31) reminded masters, coxswains and persons-in-charge of vessels navigating in Hong Kong waters to proceed at a safe speed and exercise extreme caution because restricted visibility of less than 2 nautical miles has been reported.

     Appropriate sound signals shall be made when underway or at anchor. All vessels must comply with the International Regulations for Preventing Collision at Sea.

     Also, when radar is used without the benefit of adequate plotting facilities, the information obtained from the equipment is rather limited and should be construed accordingly.

     Visibility reports are broadcast by the Vessel Traffic Centre (VTC) on VHF channels 02, 12, 14, 63 and 67.

     In the event of an accident, a report shall be made immediately to the VTC at Tel: 2233 7801.