The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     During the winter surge, the Hospital Authority is closely monitoring the service demand of Accident and Emergency Departments and the occupancy rates in public hospitals. Key service statistics are being issued daily for public information. Details are in the appended table. 
 

     To align with the special work arrangements announced by the Government to reduce the risk of the spread of the novel coronavirus in the community, the Fire Services Department announced today (February 15) that its fire protection units will continue to provide basic and limited public services to members of the public. The services include applications for various licences, applications for dangerous goods vehicle inspections, fire service installations acceptance inspections of new buildings and compliance inspections of ventilating systems, processing of building plans, handling of matters relating to building fire safety improvement works, etc.

     Meanwhile, the Shroff Office and Receipt and Dispatch Counter of the Licensing and Certification Command Headquarters (located on 5/F, Fire Services Headquarters Building) and the Receipt and Dispatch Counters of the Fire Safety Command Headquarters (located on 7/F) and other fire protection units will also provide basic services from 10am to 12.30pm and from 2pm to 4pm on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

     To reduce social contacts and the risk of the spread of the virus, members of the public are encouraged to settle payments electronically as far as practicable. For further details, please refer to the payment methods contained in the payment notice.

     Authorised Persons and Registered Fire Service Installation Contractors may contact the Fire Service Installation Division (Tel. 3961 5217) during office hours for suitable arrangements for individual cases relating to matters about fire service installations acceptance inspections of new buildings, appointments for re-inspections, submissions of relevant documents, amendments of drawings and collection of Fire Service Certificates.

     For enquiries regarding licensing matters, please call the hotline 2733 7619 during office hours.

     Regarding matters relating to the processing of building plans, building fire safety improvement works, etc, please call the hotline 2170 9665 during office hours.

     For complaints regarding fire hazards or dangerous goods, please call the FSD Complaint Hotline 2723 8787.

     The Social Welfare Department (SWD) has been informed by the three flag day organisers that the regional flag-selling activities in public places scheduled to be held today (February 15) have been cancelled, a spokesman for the SWD said.
 
     The three charities are Action Care International Limited, the Hong Kong Road Safety Association and Fung Kai Public School. They had been issued Public Subscription Permits to hold flag sales on Hong Kong Island, in Kowloon and in the New Territories respectively from 7am to 12.30pm today.
 
     For enquiries, please contact the individual organisations. Contact information for the above three organisations is as follows:
 

     A spokesman for the Security Bureau today (February 15) said that the Immigration Department (ImmD) and the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, Tokyo (HKETO) have been endeavouring to provide practical assistance to the Hong Kong residents under quarantine on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship docking in Yokohama, Japan.

     According to the information provided by the cruise operator, there are around 330 Hong Kong residents on board, including 260 holding a Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) passport and around 70 holding a foreign passport. Among them, 11 have been confirmed to have infected with the novel coronavirus.

     The ImmD has contacted most of the affected Hong Kong residents, including the infected patients who are hospitalised for treatment, to understand their needs and provide practicable assistance.

     So far, the ImmD has sent four officers to Japan to provide assistance to the affected Hong Kong residents together with the HKETO. Although officials from the HKSAR Government could not board the cruise ship, they have through the cruise operator been delivering medicine and daily necessities to Hong Kong residents in need. They will continue to reflect the needs of those concerned to the cruise operator and the doctors on duty.

     The HKETO and the ImmD today delivered, through the cruise operator, gift packs containing surgical masks and disinfection products to the Hong Kong residents aboard as a token of care by the HKSAR Government. The HKETO also met with representatives of the cruise operator this morning to know more about the conditions of those Hong Kong residents to ensure that they are well taken care of and to reflect their wishes to the cruise operator. 

     Meanwhile, the HKSAR Government has been maintaining close contact with the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Japan, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. According to the latest information obtained, the Japanese authorities advised that the quarantine period would in principle end on February 19. It is however not clear yet as to the exact arrangements after completion of the quarantine period, for example whether all passengers and crew members would require further testing, particularly for those who had close contacts with the confirmed cases. The HKSAR Government is urging the Japanese authorities to advise on such information as soon as possible. Subject to the Japanese authorities' arrangements, the HKSAR Government will confirm the arrangements of the Hong Kong residents concerned upon their return to Hong Kong as advised by the Department of Health. 

     The HKSAR Government is liaising with airlines to formulate plans to assist the relevant Hong Kong residents to return to Hong Kong as soon as possible. Detailed arrangements will be confirmed later. The Immigration officers will contact all Hong Kong residents on board in the coming one or two days to gauge their views.

     There are nearly 3 700 passengers and crew members on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship. According to the information provided by the Japanese authorities, as at February 13, there were a total of 218 confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection. All passengers and crew members have been required by the Japanese authorities to remain on board and put under quarantine since February 5. 

  

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 (February 15) 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.