The Security Bureau (SB) held an interdepartmental meeting today (September 25) to co-ordinate the management of the passenger and vehicular flows at various land boundary control points (BCPs) during the Mainland's National Day Golden Week to properly prepare for the passenger traffic during the long holiday. The interdepartmental meeting was chaired by the Secretary for Security, Mr Tang Ping-keung. Joining him were representatives from the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau (CSTB), the Hong Kong Police Force (Police), the Immigration Department (ImmD), Hong Kong Customs and the Transport Department.
      
     "The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government is closely monitoring the operation of the land BCPs during the Mainland's National Day Golden Week. Relevant government departments will maintain close liaison and co-ordinate with one another to properly manage the passenger and vehicular flows, providing an orderly and smooth clearance experience for members of the public and visitors to Hong Kong. The SB will activate the Emergency Monitoring and Support Centre in a timely manner to closely monitor and co-ordinate the public order situation at various BCPs and facilitate interdepartmental follow-up actions where necessary to respond promptly to various kinds of emergencies," Mr Tang said.
      
     To ensure smooth and orderly operation of the land BCPs during the Mainland's National Day Golden Week, relevant government departments will strengthen manpower as well as co-ordination of transport and cross-boundary services at various BCPs, including strengthening crowd management and increasing transport frequency. To cope with the anticipated heavy traffic during the festive period, relevant departments of BCPs have minimised leave for frontline officers for the flexible deployment and operation of extra clearance counters and kiosks for easing passenger and vehicular flows. Additional security guards will also be deployed at individual BCPs to provide crowd management support.
      
     In addition, the Inter-departmental Joint Command Centre set up by Customs, the Police, the ImmD and other departments will be activated during the Mainland's National Day Golden Week to monitor the real-time situation at various control points. The relevant departments will also maintain close liaison with the CSTB and Mainland counterparts, take timely contingency actions to flexibly deploy manpower at the BCPs and open more e-Channels and counters to facilitate passenger movement and vehicular flow, where necessary, to ensure smooth operation of the land control points.
      
     The Emergency Transport Co-ordination Centre of the Transport Department will also operate 24 hours a day to closely monitor the traffic conditions and public transport services of different districts, including various BCPs and major stations, disseminate the latest traffic information through various channels and implement response measures where appropriate. If necessary, the Police will make appropriate traffic arrangements according to the actual circumstances, including arranging public transport to use the designated dedicated lane on San Sham Road to travel to Lok Ma Chau/Huanggang Port.
      
     Members of the public and visitors can check the estimated waiting time at each land BCP via the Immigration mobile application to plan and arrange their itineraries. The ImmD will also upload the daily arrival figures for each control point to its website (www.immd.gov.hk).
      
     Relevant government departments will continue to maintain close communication and co-ordination regarding passenger flow at the land BCPs during the Mainland's National Day Golden Week, with a view to providing high-quality passenger clearance services for members of the public and visitors to Hong Kong.

  

     The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced today (September 25) that a sample of prepackaged frozen jade perch was detected with a veterinary drug, chloramphenicol. Members of the public should not consume the affected batch of the product. The trade should also stop using or selling the affected batch of the product immediately if they possess it. The CFS is following up on the case. 

     Product details are as follows:

Product name: JADE PERCH FISH
Brand: (Not available in English)
Net weight: 251 grams to 300g
Best-before date: February 25, 2025
Distributor: Inspire Foodie Limited

     A spokesman for the CFS said, "The CFS collected the above-mentioned sample from an online shop for testing under its routine Food Surveillance Programme. The test result showed that the sample contained chloramphenicol at a level of one microgram per kilogram.

     "The CFS has informed the vendor concerned of the irregularity and instructed it to stop sales and remove from shelves the affected batch of the product. According to the CFS's instructions, the distributor has initiated a recall on the affected batch of the product. Members of the public may call its hotline at 9778 8484 during office hours for enquiries about the recall of the product concerned," the spokesman added.

     According to the Harmful Substances in Food Regulations (Cap. 132AF), no fish (including shellfish) sold in Hong Kong for human consumption is allowed to contain chloramphenicol. Offenders will be liable to a fine of $50,000 and to imprisonment for six months upon conviction.

     The CFS will alert the trade and will continue to follow up on the incident and take appropriate action. An investigation is ongoing.

     The 2024 final registers of electors/voters for geographical constituencies (GCs), functional constituencies (FCs) and Election Committee subsectors (ECSSs) were released today (September 25).

     "A total of 4 210 384 electors are carried in the final register for GCs. The final register for FCs contains 190 016 individual electors and 8 141 corporate electors, comprising a total of 198 157. The final register for ECSSs contains 3 267 individual voters and 5 389 corporate voters, adding up to a total of 8 656," a spokesman for the Registration and Electoral Office said.

     Statistical information about these final registers of electors/voters has been uploaded to the voter registration website (vr.gov.hk).

     Notices on the inspection of the final registers of electors/voters were gazetted today. According to law, a copy of registers containing entries relating to individuals may only be shown in accordance with the statutory requirements, and made available for inspection by specified persons only. A copy of registers containing entries of corporate electors/voters (i.e. without entries relating to individuals) may be inspected by any member of the public. For details and arrangements regarding the inspection, please refer to www.reo.gov.hk/en/voter/checkvrstatus/registers.html.

The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:

     The Hong Kong Monetary Authority, as representative of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, announced today (September 25) the relevant per annum interest rate for the second interest payment of the series of retail green bonds due 2026 (Issue Number: 03GR2610R; Stock Code: 4273) (the Retail Green Bonds) issued under the Government Sustainable Bond Programme (previously known as the Government Green Bond Programme).
      
     According to the Issue Circular dated September 18, 2023 for the Retail Green Bonds, the second interest payment of the Retail Green Bonds is scheduled to be made on October 10, 2024, and the relevant interest rate is scheduled to be determined and announced on September 25, 2024 as the higher of the prevailing Floating Rate and Fixed Rate. 
      
     On September 25, 2024, the Floating Rate and Fixed Rate are as follows:
 
Floating Rate: +1.80 per cent (Annex)
Fixed Rate: +4.75 per cent
 
     Based on the Floating Rate and Fixed Rate set out above, the relevant interest rate for the second interest payment is determined and announced as 4.75 per cent per annum.

     The Immigration Department (ImmD) carried out a repatriation operation today (September 25). A total of 20 Vietnamese illegal immigrants were repatriated to Vietnam. The persons removed comprised seven men and 13 women, all of whom were unsubstantiated non-refoulement claimants. Among them were discharged prisoners who had committed criminal offences and had been sentenced to imprisonment.
 
     The ImmD has been committed to promptly removing unsubstantiated non-refoulement claimants from Hong Kong to maintain effective immigration control and safeguard the public interest. Under the updated removal policy effective from December 7, 2022, the ImmD may generally proceed with the removal of a claimant whose judicial review case has been dismissed by the Court of First Instance of the High Court, thereby enhancing the efficiency of and efforts in removing unsubstantiated claimants. 

     The ImmD will remain committed to expediting the removal process to repatriate illegal immigrants and overstayers from Hong Kong as soon as practicable according to the actual situation through appropriate measures as necessary.