Police strongly condemn protestors for blocking Harcourt Road, Arsenal Street and Gloucester Road started at about 10.30pm yesterday (June 26) and further besieging and damaging the Police Headquarters (PHQ) in Wan Chai. Police will stringently follow up on these illegal activities.

     The acts of the protestors seriously affected the work of Police, including the provision of emergency services to the public. The Report Room service in Wan Chai Police Station has been suspended since around 10.40pm yesterday. Eighteen calls of 999 hotline in Wan Chai Division could not be immediately handled. Extra resources were deployed to follow up. The incident also made staff members who were on night shift could not report duty.

     While besieging PHQ, the protestors used mills barriers and sundries to block the entrance and exit gates, threw eggs at PHQ, drew graffiti on the outer walls, and destroyed the closed-circuit television on the outer wall of PHQ. They also targeted strong lights and laser beam at Police officers’ eyes and maliciously obstructed officers from entering and leaving PHQ.

     Police respect the public's freedom of expression, speech and assembly. However, the behaviour of the protestors obviously went beyond the legal boundary, which is not acceptable in our society. Police will deal with these illegal acts in a steadfast manner.

     For the sake of public order and public safety, at about 3.30am, Police took actions to disperse protestors and to take down the obstacles in the vicinity of PHQ to resume traffic. Police’s operations completed at around 6.45am this morning. During the operations, a man was arrested for assaulting police officer.

     The effective exchange rate index for the Hong Kong dollar on Thursday, June 27, 2019 is 104.8 (down 0.1 against yesterday's index).

The following is issued on behalf of the University Grants Committee:
 
     The University Grants Committee (UGC) today (June 27) released the University Accountability Agreements (UAAs) for the 2019-22 triennium signed with the UGC-funded universities. The agreements were signed by the Chairman of the UGC, Mr Carlson Tong; the Secretary-General of the UGC, Professor James Tang; and the Council Chairmen and Heads of the UGC-funded universities.
 
     Mr Tong said, "Our universities play a critical role in the development of our society and the UGC has therefore always attached great importance to their robust governance. I am very pleased with the signing of the first UAA, which illustrates the concerted efforts of both the UGC and the UGC-funded universities to enhance accountability and transparency of the universities in their performance in the education of our youths and their drive to continuous improvement."
 
     Pursuant to a key recommendation of the "Governance in UGC-funded Higher Education Institutions in Hong Kong" report (the Governance Report), the UAA was established after many rounds of consultations with universities over a three-year period since 2016. In addition to setting out the duties and responsibilities associated with public funding, the individual UAA contains performance indicators which include both sector-wide performance measures and institution-specific key performance indicators. They cover five key domains: (1) quality of the student experience of teaching and learning; (2) quality of research performance and of the research postgraduate experience; (3) knowledge transfer and wider engagement; (4) enhanced internationalisation; and (5) financial health and institutional sustainability. The performance indicators provide a useful tool for the UGC to assess the performance of universities against their individual goals under the principle of institutional autonomy. 
 
     Mr Tong stressed that the UGC-funded sector enjoys an excellent international reputation. Effective governance and public accountability of institutional activities would further assure public confidence and help ensure the sustainability of the UGC-funded sector.
 
     Mr Tong added, "I would like to thank the universities, their councils and their management teams for their earnest support and valuable input to the UGC in establishing the UAA. The process of arriving at the agreed UAA was made much easier as a result of the ongoing and constructive dialogue between the universities and the UGC. I believe we have together made an important step in ensuring the continued success of our sector, which in turn contributes to the sustainable development of Hong Kong. Last but not the least, I would like to express my gratitude to Sir Howard Newby, author of the Governance Report, who also led the Task Force on Implementation of the Governance Report Recommendations in producing the UAA."
 
     The UAA forms an integral part of the 2019-22 triennium funding planning process and the UGC will closely engage with the universities to reflect on the implementation of the UAA in light of future development and operational experience. As an enhanced governance framework, the UAA will be refined based on experience gained over time.
 
     The individual UAAs have been uploaded to the website of the UGC (www.ugc.edu.hk/eng/ugc/activity/university_acc_agree.html).

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     Regarding an earlier announcement on a cluster of patients presented with respiratory symptoms in a male forensic psychiatric ward, the spokesperson for Castle Peak Hospital gave the following update today (June 27):
 
     Two more patients (aged 19 and 68) in the ward presented with respiratory symptoms. Appropriate viral tests were arranged for the patients. The patients concerned are being treated under isolation with stable condition.
 
     Admission to the ward has been suspended and restricted visiting has been imposed. Infection control measures have already been stepped up according to established guidelines. All other patients in the ward are under close surveillance.
 
     The cases have been reported to the Hospital Authority Head Office and the Centre for Health Protection for necessary follow-up.

     A partial lunar eclipse will occur in Hong Kong in the small hours of July 17 (Wednesday). As the elevation of the moon will be rather low during the eclipse, the event will be best observed at places with an unobstructed view to the southwest if weather permits.
 
     The eclipse will begin at 2.42am with the maximum eclipse occurring at 5.31am. This partial lunar eclipse has an umbral magnitude of 0.66, meaning that 66 per cent of the moon’s diameter will enter into the umbra (total shadow) of the Earth at the time of the maximum eclipse. Details of the partial lunar eclipse are set out in the following table:
 

 
     Members of the public can watch the whole event via a webcast to be jointly provided by the Hong Kong Observatory, the Hong Kong Space Museum, the Ho Koon Nature Education cum Astronomical Centre, the Po Leung Kuk Ngan Po Ling College and the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui Solar Tower‧Camp on the following webpage: www.hko.gov.hk/gts/event/webcast-20190717.htm.
 
     For the latest weather conditions and the astronomical observation conditions on July 17, please refer to the 9-day weather forecast issued by the Hong Kong Observatory (www.hko.gov.hk/wxinfo/currwx/fnd.htm) and the Weather Information for Astronomical Observation webpage (www.hko.gov.hk/gts/astronomy/astro_portal.html).
 
     The next lunar eclipse observable in Hong Kong will occur on January 11, 2020. It will be a penumbral lunar eclipse.