The Air Accident Investigation Authority (AAIA) today (March 11) released Serious Incident Investigation Preliminary Report 4/2020 concerning a serious incident involving a Cathay Dragon Airbus A330 (registration mark B-HL… read more
Acclaimed Hong Kong film “i’m livin’ it” kicked off the 10th season of the Asian Pop-Up Cinema (APUC) film series in Chicago as the opening night film today (March 10, Chicago time). This North American premiere opened to an enthusiastic full house.
Attending the opening night screening in Chicago, the Director of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in New York (HKETONY), Ms Joanne Chu, said she welcomed the opportunity to continue partnering with the APUC, on its fifth anniversary, to showcase Hong Kong’s films and its talent in the Windy City.
Ms Chu said the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has been staunchly supporting the development of Hong Kong’s film industry. This includes allocating a total of USD$128 million (HKD$1 billion) to the Film Development Fund (FDF) in the past two financial years to increase the number of local film productions and to nurture more film specialists.
Recently, the Government has announced an array of measures to be implemented through the FDF to support the long-term development of Hong Kong’s film industry. These support measures include the launch of a new subsidy scheme to invite veteran directors to partner with young directors and provide guidance in co-producing films as well as the launch of a new Scriptwriting Incubation Programme.
“The HKETONY will continue to partner with various organisations to promote outstanding Hong Kong films and film talents to the audience in Chicago and in major cities on the East Coast,” she added.
The opening night screening was also attended by Danny Wong and Kathy Wu, the director and actress of “i’m livin it”. The APUC will also honour Hong Kong actor Philip Keung with its “Bright Star Award” for his performance in “A Witness Out of the Blue”. Director Fung Chih-chiang will attend the North American premiere of the film tomorrow (March 11, Chicago time).
In addition to “i’m livin’ it” and “A Witness Out of the Blue”, another two Hong Kong films, “First Night Nerves” and “Men on the Dragon”, will also be screened at this season’s APUC. read more
Hongkong Post announced today (March 11) that, due to the flight adjustments of some airlines, airmail services to the following destinations are suspended until further notice. Service Type Destination… read more
The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health (DH) announced that as of 8pm today (March 10), the CHP is investigating five additional confirmed cases of COVID-19, taking the number of cases to 121 in Hong Kong so far (comprising 120 confirmed cases and one probable case).
Two of the confirmed cases today are associated with a confirmed case in Canada earlier, being the case’s household contacts in Hong Kong. The confirmed case in Canada was a member of the same tour group to India as the five patients of the 105th, 107th, 110th, 111th and 115th cases in Hong Kong.
The first case involves a 52-year-old woman (the 117th case) who is the daughter of the confirmed case in Canada. She has good past health and lives in Block 28, Lower Baguio Villa, 550 Victoria Road, Southern District. The other case involves a 48-year-old woman (the 118th case) who is the domestic helper of the 117th case who live together. The 48-year-old female patient has underlying illness. When arranging quarantine for the two patients yesterday (March 9), they were found to have fever and immediately sent to Queen Mary Hospital for treatment. The domestic helper reported to have developed cough with sputum and runny nose since March 4. Their respiratory samples were tested positive for COVID-19 virus today and they are now in stable condition. Both patients had no recent travel history.
The remaining three cases are related to members of a group tour from Hong Kong to Egypt from February 27 to March 7. One of the patients is a 59-year-old man (the 119th case) who is a staff member of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department. The patient has good past health and lives in Heng Tai House, Fu Heng Estate in Tai Po. He developed cough on March 7, then fever on March 8 and sought treatment at Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital (AHNH). He also consulted a private doctor on March 9. His deep throat saliva specimen was tested positive for COVID-19 virus today. He was hospitalised for treatment at AHNH and is in stable condition. His wife who also joined the tour has developed symptoms and was admitted to AHNH for treatment while his son is asymptomatic and will be arranged for quarantine.
The other two patients are a couple who live in On Hei House in Siu Hei Court, Tuen Mun. The 59-year-old man (the 120th case) with underlying illness developed runny nose since March 7 and fever since March 8 while his 59-year-old wife (the 121st case) with good past health developed fever since March 7. They sought treatment at Tuen Mun Hospital (TMH) on March 9. Their deep throat saliva specimens were tested positive for COVID-19 today. They are under treatment at TMH and are in a stable condition.
The three patients from the same group tour took the flight TK695 (economy class cabin) by Turkish Airlines from Cairo in Egypt to Istanbul in Turkey on March 6 and then departed Istanbul on flight TK70 (economy class cabin) by Turkish Airlines arriving Hong Kong on March 7. Passengers who travelled in the same cabin on board the flights are urged to call the CHP hotline.
The CHP’s epidemiological investigations and relevant contact tracing on the confirmed cases are ongoing. Quarantine will be arranged for close contacts while medical surveillance will be arranged for other contacts. For the progress on the contact tracing of the cases, please see the annex.
Meanwhile, the CHP is following up on the contact tracing of two confirmed cases outside Hong Kong. The first case involves a 19-year-old female patient in Dongguan, Guangdong who took the flight CX320 (economy class cabin) by Cathay Pacific from Madrid, Spain to Hong Kong arriving on March 8.
The second case involves a 31-year-old female patient who was a passenger on board the Diamond Princess cruise and became a confirmed patient in Japan. She was discharged after treatment in Japan and returned from Tokyo to Hong Kong on the flight NH811 (economy class cabin) by All Nippon Airways on March 7. While she remained asymptomatic, her respiratory specimen collected during a consultation for her underlying illness at Queen Mary Hospital on March 9 was tested positive for COVID-19.
People who travelled on the same cabin of the two above-mentioned flights are urged to call the CHP hotline.
A spokesman for the CHP said, “The CHP reminded members of the public that as the transmission of the COVID-19 virus has been increasing around the world, they are advised to consider delaying all non-essential travel outside Hong Kong.”
“Meanwhile, according to our epidemiological investigations, clusters are observed in the local community involving large meal gatherings and other gatherings. Members of the public are urged to go out less and reduce social activities such as meal gatherings or other gatherings, and maintain an appropriate social distance with other people as far as possible.”
The spokesman said, “The CHP strongly urges the public to maintain at all times strict personal and environmental hygiene, which is key to personal protection against infection and prevention of the spread of the disease in the community. On a personal level, members of the public should wear a surgical mask when having respiratory symptoms, taking public transport or staying in crowded places. They should also perform hand hygiene frequently, especially before touching the mouth, nose or eyes.
“As for household environmental hygiene, members of the public are advised to maintain drainage pipes properly, and regularly pour water into drain outlets (U-traps); cover all floor drain outlets when they are not in use; after using the toilet, they should put the toilet lid down before flushing to avoid spreading germs.”
The CHP will report the cases to the World Health Organization, National Health Commission, Health Commission of Guangdong Province and the Hospital Authority.
The CHP has set up a hotline (2125 1122) for public enquiries. The hotline operates from 8am to midnight daily. As at 4pm today, a total of 30 947 calls were received.
Moreover, the Government has launched the website “COVID-19 Thematic Website” (www.coronavirus.gov.hk) for announcing the latest updates on various news on the COVID-19 infection and health advice to help the public understand the latest updates.
To prevent pneumonia and respiratory tract infection, members of the public should always maintain good personal and environmental hygiene. They are advised to:
Hong Kong Customs seized a total of about 3.5 kilograms of suspected heroin and about 810 grams of suspected cocaine with an estimated market value of about $3.6 million in total at Hong Kong International Airport yesterday (March 9) and today (March 10).
A 42-year-old female passenger arrived in Hong Kong from Conakry, Guinea via Dubai, the United Arab Emirates yesterday. During inspection, about 470g of suspected cocaine was found concealed inside her vagina. She was then arrested.
Also, Customs and the Hong Kong Police Force mounted a joint operation yesterday and intercepted a 53-year-old female passenger arrived in Hong Kong from Kula Lumpur, Malaysia. Upon examination on her check-in suitcase, about 3.5kg of suspected heroin was found concealed inside 12 cup noodles packages. The woman was then arrested.
The two arrested women have each been charged with one count of trafficking in a dangerous drug. They will appear at Shatin Magistrates’ Courts tomorrow (March 11).
Also, Customs officers intercepted a 35-year-old male passenger arrived in Hong Kong from Penang, Malaysia for examination today. About 340g of suspected cocaine was found concealed beneath the underpants and underneath the insole of the shoes worn by him. He was then arrested. Investigation is ongoing.
Customs will continue to apply risk assessment strategy to select outbound, inbound and transit passengers for clearance to intercept different kinds of drug trafficking activities.
Under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, 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).
