The Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, convened a meeting of the Steering Committee cum Command Centre in relation to the Novel Coronavirus today (January 26). As the outbreak is mainly found and the situation is getting more severe in the Hubei Province, and experts have advised that asymptomatic patients would increase the difficulties in disease prevention and control, the Steering Committee cum Command Centre has decided to impose restrictions on all Hubei Province residents and people who visited the Hubei Province in the past 14 days from entering Hong Kong until further notice to reduce the chances of infected persons entering the city.
      
     With effect from 0.00am tomorrow (January 27), except for Hong Kong residents, residents from Hubei Province and persons who visited the Hubei Province in the past 14 days will not be permitted to enter Hong Kong until further notice. To facilitate the implementation of the above-mentioned measure, all the self-service clearance channels (i.e. e-Channels) at control points will only be open to Hong Kong residents. Non-Hong Kong residents have to use normal immigration counters for immigration clearance. The clearance process may take longer time and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government appeals for travellers' understanding for the inconvenience caused.
      
     Mrs Lam announced yesterday (January 25) the activation of Emergency Response Level under the "Preparedness and Response Plan for Novel Infectious Disease of Public Health Significance" and rolled out a package of strategies and measures to tackle the disease. In particular, given the current confirmed cases in Hong Kong are imported ones, the HKSAR Government enhanced the immigration control to contain the spread of the virus. The Steering Committee cum Command Centre is monitoring the development of the disease and listening to advice of experts to study measures that can further reduce the chances of infected people entering Hong Kong.
      
     At the meeting today, the Steering Committee cum Command Centre considered that, for public health and disease containment, restriction should be imposed as soon as possible on residents of Hubei Province and persons who visited Hubei Province in the past 14 days from entering into Hong Kong, before the formulation of other more comprehensive measures.

     To tie in with the response level under the "Preparedness and Response Plan for Novel Infectious Disease of Public Health Significance" being raised to Emergency Response Level, a spokesman for the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) today (January 26) offered details of additional measures.
 
     The LCSD will, from tomorrow (January 27), close all children's play rooms in the indoor sports centres, the Toy Library and the Children's Multimedia Room of the Hong Kong Central Library, the Children's Discovery Gallery of the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, and the Children Gallery of Hong Kong Science Museum until further notice.
 
     At the same time, the department has temporarily closed two holiday camps which were converted into quarantine centres for close contact persons.
 
     "We shall keep the situation under review and further enhance the precautionary measures if necessary," the spokesman added.

     The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health today (January 26) reported a suspected case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), and again urged the public to pay special attention to safety during travel, taking due consideration of the health risks in the places they visit. The case is detailed below:
 

 
     "Travellers to the Middle East should avoid going to farms, barns or markets with camels; avoid contact with sick persons and animals, especially camels, birds or poultry; and avoid unnecessary visits to healthcare facilities. We strongly advise travel agents organising tours to the Middle East to abstain from arranging camel rides and activities involving direct contact with camels, which are known risk factors for acquiring MERS Coronavirus (MERS-CoV)," a spokesman for the CHP said.

     Locally, the CHP's surveillance with public and private hospitals, with practising doctors and at boundary control points is firmly in place. Inbound travellers and members of the public who recently visited the Middle East and developed relevant symptoms within 14 days will be classified as suspected MERS cases. They will be taken to public hospitals for isolation and management until their specimens test negative for MERS-CoV.

     Travellers to affected areas should maintain vigilance, adopt appropriate health precautions and take heed of personal, food and environmental hygiene. The public may visit the MERS pages of the CHP and its Travel Health Service, MERS statistics in affected areas, the CHP's Facebook Page and YouTube Channel, and the World Health Organization's latest news for more information and health advice. Tour leaders and tour guides operating overseas tours are advised to refer to the CHP's health advice on MERS.

Attention duty announcers, radio and TV stations:

Please broadcast the following message as soon as possible and repeat it at suitable intervals:
 
     Around 9pm today (January 26), rioters blocked roads and behaved in a disorderly manner at the junction of Nathan Road and Nelson Street, Mong Kok. Their destructive acts have disturbed public peace and threatened public order. Some rioters even assaulted three innocent passers-by, taking the law into their own hands.
      
     Police warn all rioters to stop all unlawful acts and will take resolute enforcement actions.

     In response to the latest development of the novel coronavirus infection, the Government yesterday (January 25) announced a package of measures to tackle the disease. Apart from strengthening immigration control measures, the preparation work of quarantine facilities is also very important. The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health (DH) reiterated that it will first consider requisitioning holiday villages in arranging to send asymptomatic close contacts to quarantine facilities. 

     According to the current arrangement, the CHP will arrange close contacts of confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection who have developed symptoms to public hospitals for treatment in isolation. For close contacts who are asymptomatic and do not require medical attention by doctors and admission to hospitals, the CHP will arrange to quarantine centres for medical surveillance for 14 days after conducting a health assessment. 

     At present, the Lady MacLehose Holiday Village has been activated to receive persons who are required to be quarantined while the Lei Yue Mun Park and Holiday Village is also ready. Meanwhile, the DH today (January 26) has started preparation of the Po Leung Kuk Jockey Club Pak Tam Chung Holiday Camp as quarantine centre for quarantining asymptomatic close contacts. To cope with the quarantine need in future, the DH is contacting holiday villages under other non-governmental organisations as potential sites of quarantine centres.

     The Government acknowledges and understands that there is concern among some residents in the North District of the requisition of Fai Ming Estate. Representatives of relevant government departments will attend North District Council meeting this Wednesday to explain and discuss on the issue. Meanwhile, the Government will cease the related preparation work in Fai Ming Estate.