Regarding the accidents that happened during the preparation and performance of a concert at the Hong Kong Coliseum in July last year, the Labour Department (LD) has completed investigations in respect of occupational safety and health and employees' compensation.
      
     The investigation revealed that the relevant occupiers and employers, i.e. Engineering Impact Limited, Hip Hing Loong Stage Engineering Company Limited and Studiodanz Company Limited, were suspected of breaching the Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance (Cap. 509) and the Employees' Compensation Ordinance (Cap. 282). The involved offences include failure to provide the employees with safe plant and safe systems of work, and failure to notify the Commissioner for Labour of accidents and to take out employees' compensation insurance for employees.
      
     Having consulted the Department of Justice, the LD has initiated a total of 15 prosecutions against the aforesaid companies under the relevant legislation. The LD applied to the court on January 17, 2023, for issuing the summonses, and the case has been scheduled for fresh hearing at the Kowloon City Magistrates' Courts on March 27.
      
     The LD's spokesman said, "The LD will not tolerate the above-mentioned illegal acts, and will strictly enforce the law and do its utmost to protect the occupational safety and health as well as the statutory rights of employees."

     â€‹The effective exchange rate index for the Hong Kong dollar on Friday, January 27, 2023 is 99.7 (up 0.3 against yesterday's index).

     The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) today (January 27) released the latest grading of water quality for four gazetted beaches that are open all year round for swimming.
 
     Three beaches were rated as Good (Grade 1) and one as Fair (Grade 2).
 
Grade 1 beaches are:

 
Grade 2 beach is:

 
     Compared with the grading released last week, Silverstrand Beach has been changed from Grade 1 to Grade 2.
 
     "The changes are generally within the normal range of fluctuation of the bacteriological water quality of the beaches," an EPD spokesman said.
 
     Under the present grading system, beaches are classified into four grades, namely Good (Grade 1), Fair (Grade 2), Poor (Grade 3) and Very Poor (Grade 4), according to the level of E. coli in the water. Grades are calculated on the basis of the geometric mean of the E. coli counts on the five most recent sampling occasions.
 
     While the ratings represent the general water quality at the beaches, the EPD spokesman reminded members of the public that water quality could be temporarily affected during and after periods of heavy rain. Bathers should avoid swimming at beaches for up to three days after a storm or heavy rainfall.
 
     A summary of beach grades is published weekly before the weekend. The latest beach grades based on the most current data may be obtained from the EPD's website on Beach Water Quality (www.epd.gov.hk/epd/beach) or the beach hotline, 2511 6666.

     The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health (DH) today (January 27) announced the latest epidemic situation of COVID-19. As of 0.00am, January 27, the CHP was investigating 2 290 additional locally acquired cases that tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, comprising 455 cases that tested positive by nucleic acid tests (183 confirmed cases, 91 asymptomatic cases and 181 cases with pending status) and 1 835 cases that tested positive by rapid antigen tests (RATs) in the past 24 hours.

     Separately, 45 additional imported cases were reported and all of them tested positive by RATs.

     Hong Kong has recorded a total of 1 214 697 and 1 654 646 cases that have tested positive by nucleic acid tests and RATs respectively for the SARS-CoV-2 virus so far.

     The CHP is continuing with epidemiological investigations of the cases. Please refer to the Annex and the "COVID-19 Thematic Website" (www.coronavirus.gov.hk) for more information.

     The CHP has been closely monitoring the situation of positive cases involving mutant strains by genetic analysis. The accumulative figures of cases identified by the DH's Public Health Laboratory Services Branch (PHLSB) as well as the proportion of sub-lineage and BA.4/BA.5 (including suspected cases) of the Omicron mutant strain among the specimens received by the DH's PHLSB for verification testing of local cases are listed in the Annex.

     In addition, as of 0.00am, January 27, a total of 13 067 death cases that had tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus during the fifth wave (since December 31, 2021) were recorded, with 12 933 and 127 deaths reported from the Hospital Authority and public mortuaries respectively as well as seven deaths reported from private hospitals. Hong Kong has so far recorded a total of 13 280 death cases that tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

     Furthermore, among the earlier cases by nucleic acid tests reported, there were cases (including pending cases) changed to confirmed, asymptomatic or re-positive cases. As at yesterday (January 26), the total number of confirmed cases was 531 703, while the figures for asymptomatic cases, re-positive cases and pending/unknown cases recorded since January 1, 2022, were 418 648, 31 and 263 860 respectively.

     The spokesman for the CHP said that COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective in preventing severe cases and deaths from the SARS-CoV-2 virus. They can provide effective protection to those vaccinated in preventing serious complications and even death after infection. People who have yet to receive vaccination, especially senior citizens, chronic patients, children and other immunocompromised persons who face a higher chance of death after COVID-19 infection, should get vaccinated as early as possible for self-protection and to reduce the risk of falling seriously ill and death should they get infected.

     The CHP appeals to the community to keep on maintaining personal hygiene and comply with relevant mask requirements in order to jointly contain the risk of virus transmission. The spokesman reminded members of the public that they can call various hotlines to make enquiries on COVID-19 (www.coronavirus.gov.hk/eng/index.html#hotline).

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     The Hospital Authority (HA) today (January 27) published the latest quarterly issue of "HA Risk Alert" (HARA) as well as the Annual Report on Sentinel and Serious Untoward Events as a risk management and communication initiative to further strengthen incident reporting and the sharing of lessons learned for safety improvements in public hospitals.

     In the third quarter of 2022 (July to September), there were five sentinel events reported, comprising three cases of retained instrument/material after surgery/interventional procedure, one case of a procedure involving a wrong body part and one case of inpatient suicide. Among the 23 reported serious untoward events, there were 20 related to medication errors and three patient misidentifications.

     "Subsequent to incident reviews and analyses of the root causes of these incidents, important lessons for patient safety have been identified, while recommendations are made and shared in this publication to avoid similar events in future," the HA spokesperson said.

     The HA also released the Annual Report on Sentinel and Serious Untoward Events covering the 12 months from October 1, 2021, to September 30, 2022. There were a total of 26 sentinel events and 87 serious untoward events reported during the period. Among the serious untoward events, there were 77 and 10 events related to medication errors and patient misidentifications respectively. The Report has been endorsed by the HA Board.

     The Annual Report on Sentinel and Serious Untoward Events and HARA are distributed to healthcare workers and are accessible to the public through www.ha.org.hk/report/sentinel_event and www.ha.org.hk/riskalert. HARA is published on a quarterly basis and posted on the HA website on the last working Friday in the months of January, April, July and October. The next issue is scheduled for April 28.