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.

     A man who went missing in Ma On Shan was located.

     Yan Chi-ho, aged 54, went missing after he left his residence in Chung On Estate on December 9 afternoon. His family made a report to Police on the same day.

     Police located the man on Shan Si Street in Hung Hom yesterday night (December 10). He sustained no injuries and no suspicious circumstances were detected.

     The Lands Department announced today (December 10) that tenders for five petrol filling stations have been awarded on 21-year land grants at a total premium of $2,887,730,000.

     PetroChina International (Hong Kong) Corporation Limited was awarded the following five lots as the highest tenderer in respect of each lot: Sha Tin Town Lot No. 628 at Chik Chuen Street, Tai Wai, Sha Tin, New Territories, was awarded at $643,840,000; New Kowloon Inland Lot No. 6622 at No. 592 Prince Edward Road East, Kowloon, was awarded at $620,380,000; New Kowloon Inland Lot No. 6623 at No. 373 Kwun Tong Road, Kowloon, was awarded at $590,010,000; Fanling Sheung Shui Town Lot No. 273 at Jockey Club Road, Fanling, New Territories, was awarded at $585,650,000; Tai Po Town Lot No. 250 at 1P Kwong Fuk Road, Tai Po, New Territories, was awarded at $447,850,000.

     The successful tenders were submitted on an individual basis for the purchase of the above sites. These five sites are existing, re-tendered sites for the development of petrol filling stations. Five tenderers took part in the exercise, which produced a total of 22 tenders.
 
     The tenderers other than the successful tenderers that tendered in respect of each lot individually or as a package and in alphabetical order, with the name of the parent company where provided by the tenderer in brackets, were:
 
 

     The Department of Health (DH) today (December 10) drew public attention to a safety alert concerning the NADAL hCG Pregnancy Test [Product Code: 141000, Lot/Batch: 169757, Expiry Date: 30 November 2020] manufactured by nal von minden GmbH, as incorrect instructions for interpreting results are shown on individual packaging.

     The DH, through its routine surveillance on medical devices, noticed a safety alert issued by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency of the United Kingdom. According to the alert, pregnancy test strips of batch 169757 are enclosed in individual packaging with incorrect instructions for interpreting the results of pregnancy test. This will produce an incorrect result (positive and negative results are reversed). 

     A spokesman for the DH explained that incorrect results in the worst case can result in misdiagnosis and significant harm.

     "The DH is following up to see if the affected products have been distributed in Hong Kong. Nevertheless, the public should be alerted as some of them may have obtained the product from abroad or from Internet purchase. The public is advised to stop using the concerned batch of the product and seek advice of healthcare professionals if in doubt," the spokesman said.

     So far, the DH has not received any local report of adverse incidents arising from use of the product.

     The Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, commended and congratulated winning departments and teams for their service excellence while officiating at the prize presentation ceremony of the Civil Service Outstanding Service Award Scheme 2019 today (December 10).

     Expressing gratitude to civil service colleagues in her speech, Mrs Lam said these individuals gave full play to their team spirit to rise to the challenges in their respective posts in the extremely difficult environment over the past few months, providing quality service to members of the public with dedication and enabling the normal operation of society. She said she believes that the professional and efficient civil service will be the cornerstone of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government in the demanding macro environment down the road.

     Also speaking at the prize presentation ceremony, the Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr Joshua Law, praised the Civil Service for its consistently high standard of performance and perseverance in providing excellent public service especially during the difficult times in the past few months. He further commended colleagues in various departments for their extra efforts in handling large amounts of additional work to restore as soon as possible the facilities damaged in violent protests.   

     Mr Law said he believed that apart from a sense of responsibility, colleagues' commitment to duties and team work arises from their love for Hong Kong. He showed appreciation for the civil service teams for their dedicated efforts, and felt proud of them for their professional performance.

     The Civil Service Outstanding Service Award Scheme is a biennial event organised by the Civil Service Bureau (CSB) since 1999. The Scheme aims to recognise the efforts of government departments and teams in providing outstanding services to the public, promote a customer-focused culture, inspire civil servants to strive for innovation and provide a platform for departments and teams to share experiences in service enhancement. This year's awards under the Scheme were presented at three levels, namely inter-departmental partnership awards, departmental awards and team awards. Thirty-three entries from 22 departments were awarded under eight award categories.

     The award-winning departments and entries were assessed by some 70 adjudicators from different sectors and professions including Legislative and District Councillors, staff members of the Central Consultative Councils of the Civil Service, representatives from professional organisations, experienced practitioners from service industries and senior officials from the CSB. All entries went through two stages of rigorous adjudication.

     To promote the commendable efforts of the award winners and their notable achievements, the CSB has arranged to present the winning cases in a TV programme, with broadcast details as follows:
 

 
     Details of the Civil Service Outstanding Service Award Scheme are available in www.servicexcellence.gov.hk.