â€‹The Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, today (April 2), accompanied by the Acting Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Jack Chan, took part in the territory-wide distribution of anti-epidemic service bags. She visited a "three-nil" private building in the Central and Western District to distribute anti-epidemic service bags door to door. She also took the opportunity to appeal to them to make good use of the rapid antigen test (RAT) kits in the bags by taking tests, together with all of their family members, from April 8 to April 10 consecutively so as to help identify infected cases and stabilise the epidemic situation early.

     Mrs Lam was deeply encouraged that civil servants of various bureaux and departments had been working in concert, and different sectors of the community, including Members of the Legislative Council, the Hong Kong Community Anti-Coronavirus Link, the Anti-Coronavirus Link of 18 districts, local organisations and non-governmental organisations, clansman organisations, charity groups, volunteers, uniformed groups, youth organisations, religious groups and ethnic minorities service organisations, etc, had been actively responding to the Government's call, to participate in the packaging and distribution of anti-epidemic service bags. In the past three days, with the concerted efforts of over 17 000 volunteers and nearly 2 000 civil servants, a total of 3.5 million anti-epidemic service bags was smoothly packaged. Besides a handbook of anti-epidemic information and a message card prepared by the Government, each anti-epidemic service bag contains three kinds of medical supplies, namely 20 RAT kits, 20 KN95 masks and two boxes of proprietary Chinese medicine.

     Mrs Lam said, "The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has all along been receiving staunch support from the Central Government in the procurement of medical supplies. Upon the receipt of sufficient supplies delivered to Hong Kong, we are able to smoothly take forward this large-scale territory-wide distribution of anti-epidemic service bags. The distribution work is expected to be finished within seven days. To make the best use of the supplies and enhance the atmosphere of fighting the virus together, I appealed to all members of the public at the press conference this morning to conduct RATs for three consecutive days from April 8 to April 10 and report their positive test results, if any, through the online system operated by the Department of Health as soon as possible. The participation of the public for a few minutes every day will assist the Government in gauging the situation of local infection and providing appropriate isolation arrangement or treatment for the infected people to reduce the spread of the virus in the community or household."

     Starting from next week, the Government will strengthen its efforts to promote to the public, through publicity videos and various platforms including Tamar Talk, news.gov.hk and YouTube, the proper way to use an RAT kit and report positive test results through the "Declaration System for individuals tested positive for COVID-19 using Rapid Antigen Test" run by the Department of Health. 

     "Although the fifth wave of the epidemic, having lasted for three months, has shown a gradual downtrend after reaching the peak, the daily number of cases tested positive remains high. May I appeal to members of the public to uphold the spirit of unity in fighting the epidemic, and continue to comply with social distancing measures, minimise group gatherings, and conduct RATs from April 8 to 10, in order to create favourable conditions for the relaxation of various social distancing measures in three phases over a period of three months starting from April 21 onwards for Hong Kong to gradually return to normality early," added Mrs Lam.

      

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     The Hospital Authority today (April 2) announced information regarding patients who tested positive via admission screening or testing with patients or staff members identified as close contacts and nosocomial COVID-19 infection cases:

     The following are the statistics of patients who tested positive via admission screening or by testing in public hospitals with patients or staff members identified as close contacts.
 

     The following are the statistics of nosocomial infection cases in public hospitals.
 

     Thorough cleaning and disinfection operations have been performed in the affected areas by hospitals. The hospitals will continue to closely monitor the health condition of patients and staff members, and communicate with the Centre for Health Protection on the latest situation.

     The Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, held a press conference on anti-epidemic measures this morning (April 2). Also joining was the Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Mr Erick Tsang Kwok-wai. Following is the transcript of remarks of the press conference:
 
Reporter: Good morning. First, Mrs Lam, can you clarify and set the record straight on where you were yesterday? Who did you meet? And what were the changes in your diary? And did you meet Xia Baolong (Director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council and Vice-Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference) to talk about the pandemic work and also the situation with the elections would be postponed? And second of all, we would like to ask a bit more about the distribution of the RAT (rapid antigen test) kits next week. So you've mentioned that it's not compulsory, it's voluntary. How can you ensure that people will be incentivised to report if they test positive on RAT? A lot of people are concerned that they will be sent to these community isolation facilities. Is there any rubric on that? And you also mentioned that distributing the kits and doing RATs in the next weekend is not a replacement for the community universal testing, so can you explain what is the reasoning behind this and what goal does this testing have to achieve with the RAT? How many cases do you want to find out and what threshold of cases positive will be constituted as a, sort of, dire situation or a situation that is worth more action to?
 
Chief Executive: First of all, the CE (Chief Executive)'s diary contains various appointments and commitments of the Chief Executive. I don't think it is this Chief Executive, every Chief Executive will have a number of appointments, meetings, commitments and visits to carry out during a day. When it is a public occasion or an occasion that should be publicised, it will be publicised. Just like I'm going to help distribute the service bags this afternoon, that will be publicised. You will have a video, photos and a press release. But there are always commitments that need not be publicised. Again this afternoon, I'm going to have a webinar with the school community to listen to their views first-hand about the resumption of face-to-face learning. That is really an exchange of views leading to something that we will publicise later on about education matters, and that will not be publicised. I have already taken the exceptional step of telling you that even in this afternoon, I got two commitments: one will be publicised, one will not be publicised. It's not a matter of clarification or setting the record straight. It is a matter of how the Chief Executive operates in Hong Kong and I suppose all government leaders will have that sort of discretion and freedom to operate.
 
     About the RAT exercise that we want to do together with the people of Hong Kong, one reason is we are seeing a downward trend in the number of cases and the various indicators that we are monitoring like the sewage tests, the preliminary positive cases found in an RTD (restriction-testing declaration) operation, the positive rate among the tests taken at the community testing centres and so on. But the absolute numbers are still high – yesterday it was close to 6 000 cases. That suggests that we still have quite a number of silent transmissions in the community. It will be to the benefit of all of us, to the community at large, to try to identify all these infected cases as soon as possible. While we are doing the RTD and the CTN (compulsory testing notice) to find out positive cases based on PCR (polymerase chain reaction-based nucleic acid) test, since the RAT test is a much more convenient, self-administered type of instrument that we have accepted – worldwide, they have accepted that RAT positive is a good enough confirmation of a person being infected – we want to do it on a more extensive basis since we have already distributed enough RAT kits to every family in Hong Kong under the other exercise that started three days ago in terms of packaging and will start today in terms of the actual distribution to households in Hong Kong.
 
     It is a voluntary exercise, so we could only appeal to people's co-operation riding on their aspiration to resume normal daily living as soon as possible and also to be able to travel. In order to do that, as I have mentioned many, many times, in tackling a public health crisis, whether in vaccination, testing or isolation, we need the full co-operation and support of the people. We don't just rely on legal instruments. We have to appeal to people's co-operation, understanding and participation. This is an exercise of this nature. And I would hope that those intangibles will be good enough to incentivise people to take a test. It's a very simple test. I'm sure you have done it and that will help us to achieve our objectives much more effectively.
 
     You asked about the CIF (community isolation facility). Actually since the fifth wave, understandably because of a large number of infected cases, not every positive case was sent to a community isolation facility. That was simply not practical at the early stage of the epidemic. Now that we have 20 000 beds in six CIFs, community isolation facilities, built with the support of the Central Government, we are in a much, much better position to resume isolation, which is a more effective way to combat the spread of the virus. But like all things in Hong Kong, one has to strike a balance, a very pragmatic balance. Some people are very resistant to go to a CIF, but at the same time, they are living in a very reasonable and decent living environment that will enable them to meet the requirement for isolation. For example, they have their own bedroom, they have their own toilet, they have no symptom whatsoever, they could self-care, they don't have any vulnerable or high-risk family members in the household. What the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) has done in this fifth wave is to allow these infected persons to fill in a questionnaire. And they just updated and expanded the questionnaire two days ago to allow each individual to go through this self-assessment process in a very systematic and rational way; and ultimately, a decision would be reached by the CHP whether this person is suitable for home isolation. The Centre for Health Protection will be issuing isolation orders specifically for home isolation or for non-home isolation. Non-home means going into a CIF.
 
     I will really appeal again to people's understanding and co-operation. You don't have to believe in those stories that you read on the social media. Our CIFs are very well managed, they are as user-friendly as possible and staying there for a few days of isolation will provide better protection to his or her family members because he or she is an infected person, so isolating him or her in the government isolation facility will give better protection to the family members and also give better assurance to our anti-epidemic efforts. We will continue, through the Secretary for Security's task force, to improve the service at the CIFs but we also need the people's co-operation.
 
     Then you asked about the CUT (Compulsory Universal Testing). As I said, at the beginning, this exercise to invite all people in Hong Kong to do an RAT test daily on the eighth and ninth and 10th of this month is not a replacement of the Compulsory Universal Testing, which is still necessary and essential in order to eliminate the spread of the virus in Hong Kong. But when we will do it is something that we will have to further monitor, especially there's now a complication about the large number of people who have been infected but not reported. These people, strictly speaking, would have their antibodies and should not be subject to another test because if another test, especially a PCR test, finds out some residue of virus in their body, then the experts have to tell us if that is a re-positive case. Is that a false case or what? Given the likely large proportion of people in this sort of situation, we still have to listen to our experts in the Government and outside of the Government before we consider it a good enough timing to commence a Compulsory Universal Testing in Hong Kong. Thank you.
 
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)

  

     The Government yesterday (April 1) exercised the power under the Prevention and Control of Disease (Compulsory Testing for Certain Persons) Regulation (Cap. 599J) to make a "restriction-testing declaration" effective from 5pm yesterday, under which people (hereafter referred to as "persons subject to compulsory testing") within the specified "restricted area" in Chai Wan (i.e. Tsui Fuk House, Tsui Wan Estate, Chai Wan, excluding Tsui Wan Estate Management Office on G/F) were required to stay in their premises and undergo compulsory testing. Persons subject to compulsory testing were required to stay in their premises until all such persons identified in the "restricted area" had undergone testing and the test results were mostly ascertained.
 
     Moreover, the Government issued a compulsory testing notice yesterday, requiring persons who had been present at the above building for more than two hours from March 19 to April 1, 2022, even if they were not present in the "restricted area" at the time when the declaration took effect, to undergo compulsory testing on or before April 3, 2022. The Government announced the completion of the compulsory testing exercise at around 12.50pm today (April 2) and carried out enforcement action in the "restricted area" afterwards to verify that all people in the "restricted area" had undergone compulsory testing in accordance with the requirements of the relevant declaration and compulsory testing notice. The Government announced that the enforcement operation ended at around 4.30pm today.
    
     Staff from the Environment Bureau, the Environmental Protection Department, the Home Affairs Department (including the Eastern District Office), the Hong Kong Police Force, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department and the Department of Health took part in this exercise to arrange for implementation of the declaration and enforcement actions for breaches of the compulsory testing notice issued earlier.
 
     The Government provided food packs for persons subject to compulsory testing to facilitate their meal arrangements. Anti-epidemic proprietary Chinese medicines donated by the Central Government and rapid antigen test kits were also distributed to persons subject to compulsory testing to help them fight against the virus.
　
     The Government thanks persons subject to compulsory testing for their support and understanding. With everyone's co-operation and efforts, coupled with the tireless efforts of the testing contractors, residents have been informed about their testing results by SMS notification. After finishing the compulsory testing exercise at around 12.50pm today, the Government took enforcement action in the "restricted area" immediately to verify that all people in the "restricted area" had undergone testing according to the requirements of the declaration and the compulsory testing notice. Persons who could present an SMS notification containing a negative testing result or wore a wristband as proof of having undergone the compulsory testing could leave the "restricted area" through the designated exit after providing personal information to a prescribed officer. The enforcement operation was completed at around 4.30pm. Test records of around 460 persons subject to compulsory testing were checked. 37 persons were found not having undergone compulsory testing and compulsory testing orders were issued to them. Taking into account the above situation, the Secretary for Food and Health revoked the "restriction-testing declaration" in accordance with Cap. 599J (see attachment).
 
     The Government reminds the 30 households who have not answered the door to contact the Government for arrangement of testing as soon as possible after reading the notices put up by the Government, in the hope of eliminating the possible risk of further spread of the virus in the community.
 
     The Government thanks all participating government staff and the testing agencies for their hard work. The Government is also grateful to those subject to compulsory testing for their support and understanding, and their full co-operation during this period in undergoing testing and waiting for the results at home.
 
     The Government will seriously follow up on the compliance situation of the compulsory testing notices and the "restriction-testing declaration" by persons subject to compulsory testing. Any person who fails to comply with the compulsory testing notices commits an offence and may be liable to a fixed penalty of $10,000. The person will also be issued with a compulsory testing order, requiring him or her to undergo testing within a specified time frame. Failure to comply with the order or the "restriction-testing declaration" is an offence and the offender may be liable to a fine of level 5 ($50,000) and imprisonment for six months.

     The Secretary for Transport and Housing, Mr Frank Chan Fan, today (April 2) visited Shek Kip Mei Estate to distribute anti-epidemic service bags to the residents to personally convey the caring of the Central Government and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government and to provide residents with anti-epidemic supplies.
      
     The Permanent Secretary for Transport and Housing (Housing) cum Director of Housing, Miss Agnes Wong, the Permanent Secretary for Transport and Housing (Transport), Ms Mable Chan and the Under Secretary for Transport and Housing, Dr Raymond So Wai-man, also participated in the distribution of the anti-epidemic service bags.
      
     The Government today started distributing anti-epidemic service bags to all households in Hong Kong. The Housing Department (HD) takes care of the distribution to public housing residents under its purview. Mr Chan visited three elderly tenants of Mei Cheong House in Shek Kip Mei Estate and handed over to them the service bags. He continued to distribute the bags to other households at the lobby of Mei Cheong House thereafter.
      
     "Through the distribution of the service bags, the Government expressed its caring to the public and assisted them to fight the virus. I would like to express my appreciation of the enhanced anti-epidemic measures undertaken by colleagues of the HD in public housing estates continuously since the outbreak of the epidemic, including the cleansing and disinfection works at common areas, efforts in raising the awareness of tenants on anti-epidemic information by strengthening the promotion work and reminding them to pay attention to their personal and home hygiene. I am also grateful for the full co-operation and understanding of the public housing residents subject to the around 100 "restriction-testing declaration" operations co-ordinated by the HD during the past few months. In addition, I am grateful to my colleagues in the Transport Branch of the Transport and Housing Bureau for their efforts in ensuring the supply of daily necessities and anti-epidemic supplies for the public, especially the recent supplies from the Mainland to Hong Kong," Mr Chan said.
      
     Each anti-epidemic service bag contains information on anti-epidemic measures, 20 sets of rapid antigen test kits, 20 KN95 masks and two packs of proprietary Chinese medicines. The HD will mobilise over 5 000 staff from various ranks to distribute about 800 000 service bags to the residents of about 1 320 building blocks in 191 public housing estates. To express concern for the elderly households, priority will be given to distributing the service bags to the 170 000 elderly-only households.  The HD will also strengthen the support to the elderly amidst the epidemic by proactively approaching the elderly-only households to offer care and support to them where appropriate.