Tag Archives: China

     The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health is today (June 28) investigating a case of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) infection, and hence reminded the public to maintain good personal, food and environmental hygiene against intestinal infections.

     The case involves a one-year-old boy with good past health, who has presented with fever and diarrhoea since June 18. He was admitted to a private hospital on the same day and was discharged on June 20. The patient has been in a stable condition all along.

     His stool specimen grew STEC upon laboratory testing.

     Initial enquiries of the CHP revealed that the patient had no travel history during the incubation period. Investigations are ongoing.

     “Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a bacterium that is commonly found in the gut of humans and warm-blooded animals. Most strains of E. coli are harmless. Some strains, however, such as STEC, can produce powerful toxins and cause severe food-borne disease. The most recognised serogroup of STEC is E. coli O157:H7,” a spokesman for the CHP explained.

     Preventive measures for STEC infection are similar to those recommended for other food-borne diseases. The public are advised to observe good personal and food hygiene:
 

• Adopt the 5 Keys to Food Safety in handling food, i.e. Choose (choose safe raw materials), Clean (keep hands and utensils clean), Separate (separate raw and cooked food), Cook (cook thoroughly) and Safe Temperature (keep food at a safe temperature) to prevent food-borne diseases;
• Wash hands properly with liquid soap and water before handling food, after handling raw meat or poultry and before eating, and after going to the toilet or changing diapers;
• Cook food and boil water thoroughly before consumption. When cooking or reheating, the core temperature of the food should reach at least 75 degrees Celsius;
• Avoid consumption of unpasteurised milk or undercooked food; and
• Consult your doctor immediately if you have symptoms of STEC infection, particularly bloody diarrhoea.
   

     The public may visit the CHP’s STEC page for more information. read more

The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:        The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) today issued joint consultation conclusions on the ann… read more

The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:
 
     The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today that additional 60 sets of financial data published on the HKMA’s website are made available via Open Application Programming Interface (API) for free use by the public starting from today.
      
     To facilitate more convenient and efficient retrieval of information and data from the HKMA’s website by the public, as well as to set an example for the banking industry to promote the wide adoption of Open API, the HKMA has been opening up financial data and important information published on its website via API by phases since July 2018.  Following the opening up of 70 datasets earlier, the HKMA today opens up another 60 sets of financial data, covering statistics related to banking, monetary system, debt securities, etc.  This brings the total sets of APIs available on the HKMA’s website to 130 as originally planned.
      
     The HKMA will review the coverage of APIs on its website from time to time, and will launch more APIs in the future where appropriate.
      
     For more details, please visit the HKMA’s Open API portal (apidocs.hkma.gov.hk/). read more

The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:      Details of the meetings of the Legislative Council (LegCo) and its Committees to be held in the LegCo Complex during the week from July 1 to 5 are ava… read more

The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:
 
     According to statistics published today (June 28) by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, total deposits with authorised institutions declined by 1.0 per cent in May 2019. With decreases in savings, demand and time deposits, Hong Kong-dollar deposits went down by 1.0 per cent during the month. Overall foreign-currency deposits also decreased by 1.0 per cent in May. Renminbi deposits in Hong Kong increased by 2.0 per cent to RMB624.4 billion at the end of May. The total remittance of renminbi for cross-border trade settlement amounted to RMB477.3 billion in May, compared with RMB420.7 billion in April 2019.
 
     Total loans and advances stayed virtually unchanged in May. Among the total, loans for use in Hong Kong (including trade finance) edged up by 0.1 per cent from a month ago, while loans for use outside Hong Kong edged down by 0.2 per cent (Note). The Hong Kong-dollar loan-to-deposit ratio picked up to 88.3 per cent at the end of May from 87.3 per cent at the end of April, as Hong Kong-dollar loans increased while Hong Kong-dollar deposits declined.
 
     On a seasonally-adjusted basis, Hong Kong-dollar M1 declined by 2.2 per cent in May and dropped by 5.9 per cent year-on-year. Seasonally unadjusted Hong Kong-dollar M3 decreased by 1.0 per cent during the month but rose by 2.8 per cent from a year earlier. 

Note: The December 2018 figures for loans for use in/outside Hong Kong have been restated to reflect authorised institutions’ reclassification of working capital loans. The reported month-on-month and quarter-on-quarter growth rates are calculated based on the reclassified loan data. As reclassified loan data before December 2018 are not available, year-on-year growth rates of loans for use in/outside Hong Kong (including their sub-components) as shown in Table 1H of the Annex are calculated based on the data without such reclassification. read more