The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:
 
     The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), as representative of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (HKSAR Government), announces today (March 2) that a tender of 15-year Government Bonds (Bonds) through the re-opening of existing 15-year Government Bond issue 15GB3403 under the Institutional Bond Issuance Programme will be held on March 11 (Wednesday), for settlement on March 12 (Thursday).
 
     An additional amount of HK$0.8 billion of the outstanding 15-year Bonds (issue no. 15GB3403) will be on offer. The Bonds will mature on March 7, 2034 and will carry interest at the rate of 2.02 per cent per annum payable semi-annually in arrears. The Indicative Pricings of the Bonds on March 2 is 113.37 with an annualised yield of 0.999 per cent.
 
     Under the Institutional Bond Issuance Programme, tender is open only to Recognized Dealers which are appointed as Primary Dealers. Anyone wishing to apply for the Bonds on offer can do so through any of the Primary Dealers on the current published list, which can be obtained from the Government Bond Programme’s website at www.hkgb.gov.hk. Each tender must be for an amount of HK$50,000 or integral multiples thereof.
 
     Tender results will be published on the HKMA’s website, the Government Bond Programme’s website, the Reuters screen (HKGBINDEX), and Bloomberg (GBHK <GO>) not later than 3pm on the tender day.

HKSAR Government Institutional Bond Issuance Programme Tender Information
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     â€‹Tender information of re-opening of 15-year Government Bonds under the Institutional Bond Issuance Programme:
 

 
     Price/Yield Table of the re-opening Government Bonds at tender for reference* only:
 

 
*Disclaimer: The information provided here is for reference only. Although extreme care has been taken to ensure that the information provided is accurate and up-to-date, the HKMA does not warrant that all, or any part of, the information provided is accurate in all respects. You are encouraged to conduct your own enquiries to verify any particular piece of information provided on it. The HKMA shall not be liable for any loss or damage suffered as a result of any use or reliance on any of the information provided here.

     The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, today (March 2) visited the quarantine centre at Chun Yeung Estate to observe its operation and inspected the quarantine preparatory arrangements for Hong Kong residents returning to Hong Kong from Wuhan soon.
 
     Accompanied by the Permanent Secretary for Food and Health (Food), Mr Philip Yung, and Deputy Secretary for Food and Health (Food), Mr Daniel Cheng, Mr Cheung received a briefing from front-line staff of relevant government departments and Civil Aid Service on the meals arrangement for people undergoing quarantine. He expressed gratitude to all staff stationed at the centre for their dedication to serve round the clock at the forefront of the anti-epidemic battle.

     He then visited Block Two to inspect the readiness of the quarantine units and was pleased to note that all units were ready for use by people required to undergo quarantine requirement, including Hong Kong residents returning from Wuhan by Government's chartered flights.
 
     He expressed warmest appreciation to Department of Health, Hong Kong Police Force, Civil Aid Service, Home Affairs Department, Housing Department, Social Welfare Department, Electrical and Mechanical Services Department, Office of the Government Chief Information Officer and Government Logistics Department for their relentless efforts in completing the preparatory work for numerous units within such a short period to meet the needs in this fight against the epidemic, making significant contribution to public health.
 
     Mr Cheung stressed that the epidemic is still severe and appealed to all sectors of society for solidarity and unity in the fight against the disease.

Overall law and order situation in Hong Kong
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1. Overall situation

     The overall number of crimes reported in 2019 was 59,225 cases, representing an increase of 5,000 cases (+9.2%) when compared with 2018 (54,225 cases). Violent crimes also increased by 806 cases (+9.1%) from 8,884 cases to 9,690 cases. For every 100,000 people, there were 787 crimes reported, of which 129 cases were classified as violent crime, compared with 728 cases and 119 cases respectively in 2018. 

     The overall crime situation in Hong Kong had been on a downward trend for 12 consecutive years, from 80,796 cases in 2007 down to 54,225 cases in 2018. The law and order situation remained stable in the first half of 2019 with a further drop of 4.7% in overall crime when compared with the same period of 2018, hitting a new record low since half yearly figures were maintained in 1977. 

     However, the trend reversed in the second half of 2019, with the months-long social unrest stemmed from protests against the “Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation (Amendment) Bill 2019” (“anti-extradition amendment bill”) ongoing since June. Not only the 4.7% decrease for the first half of the year had been offset, an overall 9.2% yearly increase in crime was subsequently recorded at the end of the year.

     The increase in crime reports was attributable to two factors, a rise in crimes directly related to the radical protests stemmed from the “anti-extradition amendment bill” related incident (including offences against public order, arson, criminal damage, possession of unlawful instrument, possession of offensive weapons, assault on police and resisting arrest, etc.) and a surge in crimes which were indirectly affected (including robbery, burglary, snatching, theft from vehicle and taking conveyance without authority) in the sense that criminals were taking advantage of the thinning out of crime prevention work and resources to cope with related public order events.

     The detection rates for overall and violent crime also dropped noticeably in 2019, respectively by 9.4 and 13.8 percentage points from 46.5% to 37.1% and from 65.1% to 51.3%. Significant drops in detection rate were noted in cases of assault on police (-56.2 percentage points), robbery (-27.2 percentage points), arson (-26 percentage points) and criminal damage (-11 percentage points). The fact that many of the culprits were all suited up and masked to conceal their identity when committing these offences had made it more difficult to conduct investigation.

2. Crimes Arising from Radical Protests

     The increase in cases of offences against public order (+36 folds), arson (+2.2 folds), criminal damage (+54.1%), possession of unlawful instrument (+10.6 folds), possession of offensive weapons (+91.5%), assault on police (+2.6 folds) and resisting arrest (+63.1%) were considered directly attributable to the “anti-extradition amendment bill” related protests.  Increase of cases ranging from 54.1% to 36 folds were noted. 74% of the cases were committed in the second half of the year.

     Some radicals, due to different political stances, targeted and vandalised shops they disliked and attacked people with opposite views. Since last October, 1,200 cases had been reported to Police, involving vandalism of more than 1,000 venues, some of which were repeatedly damaged. There were cases in which innocent members of the public were attacked by rioters due to different political views. Among which were two heinous cases in which a man suffered 40% burns to his body after he was poured with inflammable liquid and set into fire in Ma On Shan on November 11, 2019. The second case was on November 13, 2019 in which a 70-year-old cleaner was hit in his head by a brick hurled by radicals in Sheung Shui and subsequently died.

3. Traditional crimes

     Homicide saw a decrease of 24 cases (-50%) from 48 to 24 cases. Of the 24 homicides occurring in 2019, 23 were detected. For the remaining case, Police have identified the suspect and are pursuing the case. Over 50% of the cases were committed in domestic violence setting or perpetrated by relatives or family members. 

     2019 saw a total of 210 robbery and 2,394 burglary reports. The majority of the cases (79% of robbery and 67% of burglary) occurred in the second half of the year. 

     Robbery rose by 42.9% (+63 cases), mainly attributable to the increase of cases committed at goldsmith / jewellery / watch shops (+2.8 folds or 14 cases), on the streets (+41.2% or 28 cases) and convenience shops (+21.4% or 3 cases). There were no robbery cases involving the use of genuine firearms. Burglary on the other hand climbed up by 52% (+819 cases), over 70% of the cases involved non-residential premises. 

     Violent protests showed signs of winding down from December 2019 onwards. Police could, therefore, deploy more resources for maintaining law and order. From December 2019 to February 2020, 36 cases of robbery and 74 cases of burglary had been detected (as at February 20, 2020).

     Regarding sexual offences, indecent assault and rape cases respectively went down by 10.6% (-117 cases) from 1,099 to 982 reports and 20.6% (-13 cases) from 63 to 50 reports. Majority of rape cases were committed by acquaintances (98%).  Detection rates of rape and indecent assault remained high at 92% and 76.6% respectively.

     740 serious drug offences were registered, representing a decrease of 47.1% when compared with 1,399 cases in 2018.  While the overall serious drug arrests went down by 48.5%, the number of youth (aged 10-20) arrested for serious drug offences also dropped by 28.7%. The decrease in cases and arrests, however, might not be able to reflect the real drug situation in the second half of the year, given that the large amount of police resources had been re-deployed to cope with the public order events stemmed from the “anti-extradition amendment bill”related protests since June. Having said that, with the combined efforts of the Police and Customs and Excise Department, an increase in drug seizures was made by 2.3 folds in ketamine (+269kg), 1.4 folds in cocaine (+779kg), 1.4 folds in methamphetamine (ice) (+238kg), and 26.5% in heroin (+13kg).

     2019 also saw a decrease of 362 triad-related crimes (-21.1%) from 1,715 to 1,353 cases. Reduced police resources in mounting intelligence-led operations against triad-related activities since June might be one of the contributing factors for the drop. 

     Deception fell by 1.9% (-156 cases) from 8,372 to 8,216 cases, mainly due to the drop in online miscellaneous fraud by 49.3% (-333 cases), social media deception by 18.7% (-386 cases), online business fraud by 14.7% (-400 cases) and email scam by 8.7% (-78 cases), which together attributed to the decline in internet deception by 18.8% (-1,197 cases). 

     While the overall situation in deception had improved, the amount of loss involved remained a matter of concern. In particular, telephone deception cases incurred a total loss amount of 150 million (+1.5 folds or 89 million) with only 5.4% increase (+33 cases) in reports. Meanwhile, corporate email scams incurred a total loss amount of 2.5 billion (+47.8% or 818 million) against a decrease of reports by 15.2% (-135 cases). Internet deception, which totalled 5,157 reports, accounted for the majority (62%) of the overall technology crimes (8,322 reports) in 2019.

     Youth crime involving offenders aged from 10 to 20 registered an increase of 1,499 arrests (+54.1%) from 2,769 to 4,268 arrests in 2019, mainly attributable to the increase in the number arrested for offences against public order (+21.5 folds) and criminal damage (+88.1%) in connection with the “anti-extradition amendment bill” related protests in the latter half of the year. It is noteworthy that between June and December, there were 2,442 youths arrested for the “anti-extradition amendment bill” related protests, which exceeded the annual increase in youths arrested (1,499).

4. Observations from incidents arising from “anti-extradition amendment bill”

(i) Increase in proportion of students and youngsters arrested

     Among the 7,549 persons arrested in connection with the incidents, 3,091 were reported to be students, constituting 40.9% of the total arrested persons. The percentage of arrested students had significantly increased after the school year began, from 25% (between June and August 2019) rising to 43.6% (between September 2019 to February 20, 2020). More and more arrested persons are of younger age.

(ii) The disobedience to law

     In the early stage of the public meetings and processions related to “anti-extradition amendment bill”, some protestors ruined and “hijacked” peaceful demonstrations by illegal acts including blocking roads, charging police cordon lines and besieging Central Government Offices and Legislative Council Complex. Later on, they even adopted extreme methods by obstructing major transportation hubs in various districts, making it impossible for members of the public to go to work and class as usual, or even to live a normal daily life. However, some people covered up, connived, condoned or even supported those who committed crime and used violence. Furthermore, various excuses they made for justifying or romanticising the illegal acts gradually eroded the law-abiding value of the city, which in turn instigated more people to take part in illegal and violent acts. It is one of the major causes of reversing the good law and order that Hong Kong used to maintain.

(iii) Home-grown terrorism

     During the “anti-extradition amendment bill” incidents, the online publicity materials at first appealed to the public to join the public processions or demonstrations, but later turned into “weapon making handbooks” or even “guides to kill police”.  Violent acts committed by the protestors changed from throwing water bottles and other objects to hurling bricks and mills barriers or even petrol bombs, corrosive liquids and shooting arrows. In order to express their dissatisfaction with the society and the government, rioters chose to hurt the public and cause social panic which exactly is the behaviour of home-grown terrorism.

Way Forward of Police
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     In 2020, Police will exert all efforts to restore the social order and reinstate the sense of security we have lived in Hong Kong through four approaches namely stringent enforcement of law, intelligence-led operation, building trust and enhancing professionalism.

     Stringent enforcement of law –– Police will not condone any violent acts. In face of the continued escalation of violence by rioters and the incitement of youngsters and students to use violence, Police will stringently enforce the law including targeting those who, via the internet, incite others to commit crime and those who teach others in using petrol bombs.

     Intelligence-led operation –– Police will continue to enhance intelligence gathering, curbing those core radicals who use illegal ammunitions and explosives to commit crimes, thereby averting serious casualties.

     Building trust –– At present, the relatively tense police public relations are partly caused by all kinds of fake news and fake information smearing Police which emerge from the “anti-extradition amendment bill” incidents.  This has caused part of the public in misunderstanding Police’s actions. Police will continue to proactively clarify and rebut fake information and review the communication with members of the public so as to increase the transparency of Police work, clearing the doubts of the public.  In parallel, Police will actively establish partnership with the media and continue to maintain good communication with a view to enhancing mutual understanding and respect. On the condition of not affecting operations, Police will assist in media reporting as far as possible.

     Enhancing professionalism –– Police will continue to enhance professionalism and strictly demand officers to uphold professional attitude while at work and in execution of duties.      
 

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     As at noon today (March 2), public hospitals had reported to the Department of Health the admission of 55 patients (23 male and 32 female, aged four to 101) in the past 24 hours who met the reporting criteria of COVID-19. Appropriate tests have been arranged for the patients.
 
     There are 125 patients under isolation currently. So far, 36 patients with the COVID-19 infection have been discharged upon recovery.
 
     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.
 

     The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health today (March 2) reported the latest number of cases of Legionnaires' disease (LD), and stressed the importance of using and maintaining properly designed man-made water systems, adding that susceptible groups should strictly observe relevant precautions.
 
     From February 23 to 29, one community-acquired LD case was reported, involving a male patient, aged 48 with underlying illnesses.

     "Epidemiological investigations are ongoing to identify potential sources of infection, high-risk exposures and clusters, if any," a spokesman for the CHP said.
 
     As of February 29 this year, 27 LD cases had been reported. In 2019 and 2018, there were 105 cases each year.
 
     "Men, people aged over 50, smokers, alcoholics and persons with weakened immunity are more susceptible to LD. Some situations may also increase the risk of infection including poor maintenance of water systems leading to stagnant water; living in areas with old water systems, cooling towers or fountains; using electric water heaters, whirlpools and spas or hot water spring spas; and recent stays in hotels or vessels," the spokesman said.
 
     Legionellae are found in various environmental settings and grow well in warm water (20 to 45 degrees Celsius). They can be found in aqueous environments such as water tanks, hot and cold water systems, cooling towers, whirlpools and spas, water fountains and home apparatus which support breathing. People may become infected when they breathe in contaminated droplets (aerosols) and mist generated by artificial water systems, or when handling garden soil, compost and potting mixes.
 
     Immunocompromised persons should:
  
• Use sterile or boiled water for drinking, tooth brushing and mouth rinsing;
• Avoid using humidifiers, or other mist- or aerosol-generating devices. A shower may also generate small aerosols; and
• If using humidifiers, or other mist- or aerosol-generating devices, fill the water tank with only sterile or cooled freshly boiled water, and not water directly from the tap. Also, clean and maintain humidifiers/devices regularly according to manufacturers' instructions. Never leave stagnant water in a humidifier/device. Empty the water tank, wipe all surfaces dry, and change the water daily.

    The public should observe the health advice below:
 
• Observe personal hygiene;
• Do not smoke and avoid alcohol consumption;
• Strainers in water taps and shower heads should be inspected, cleaned, descaled and disinfected regularly or at a frequency recommended by the manufacturer;
• If a fresh-water plumbing system is properly maintained, it is not necessary to install domestic water filters. Use of water filters is not encouraged as clogging occurs easily, which can promote growth of micro-organisms. In case water filters are used, the pore size should be 0.2 micrometres (µm) and the filter needs to be changed periodically according to the manufacturer's recommendations;
• Drain and clean water tanks of buildings at least quarterly;
• Drain or purge for at least one minute infrequently used water outlets (e.g. water taps, shower heads and hot water outlets) and stagnant points of the pipework weekly or before use;
• Seek and follow doctors' professional advice regarding the use and maintenance of home respiratory devices and use only sterile water (not distilled or tap water) to clean and fill the reservoir. Clean and maintain the device regularly according to the manufacturer's instructions. After cleaning/disinfection, rinse the device with sterile water, cooled freshly boiled water or water filtered with 0.2 µm filters. Never leave stagnant water in the device. Empty the water tank, keep all surfaces dry, and change the water daily; and
• When handling garden soil, compost and potting mixes:
     1. Wear gloves and a face mask;
     2. Water gardens and compost gently using low pressure;
     3. Open composted potting mixes slowly and make sure the opening is directed away from the face;
     4. Wet the soil to reduce dust when potting plants; and
     5. Avoid working in poorly ventilated places such as enclosed greenhouses.

     The public may visit the CHP's LD page, the Code of Practice for Prevention of LD and the Housekeeping Guidelines for Cold and Hot Water Systems for Building Management of the Prevention of LD Committee, and the CHP's risk-based strategy for prevention and control of LD.