Tag Archives: China

     The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health (DH) said today (February 12) that it is investigating a confirmed Mpox (also known as Monkeypox) case, and urged the public to heighten vigilance and avoid close physical contact with persons suspected of contracting Mpox. Meanwhile, high-risk target groups are advised to receive Mpox vaccinations.

     The case involves a 30-year-old male patient with good past health. He developed rashes and vesicles since February 6. He attended the Yau Ma Tei Male Social Hygiene Clinic of the DH on February 10. He is in stable condition and is being isolated at Princess Margaret Hospital.

     An initial investigation revealed that he had a history of high-risk exposure in Hong Kong during the incubation period, but no epidemiological linkages between this case and other confirmed cases recorded in Hong Kong earlier could be identified so far. The CHP is continuing its epidemiological investigations of the case and will report the case to the World Health Organization.
     
     High-risk target groups are advised to receive Mpox vaccinations with a view to lowering the risk of infection or the possibility of having more severe symptoms after infection. In addition, persons who experience Mpox symptoms (including rashes, fever, chills, swollen lymph nodes, exhaustion, muscle pain, and severe headaches) or suspect themselves of being infected are advised to seek medical attention and receive treatment at once, and they should not engage in activities with others during which other people may have contact with their skin rash or body fluids. Members of the public should maintain good personal and hand hygiene to prevent virus transmission or infection through contact. They should also avoid close physical contact with persons or animals suspected of infection.

     The CHP had earlier set up an Mpox telephone hotline (2125 2373). The hotline operates from Monday to Friday (excluding public holidays) from 9am to 5pm, which enables those who suspect or are concerned they have had high-risk contact with confirmed patients, in particular men who have sex with men or those who have sexual practices with strangers, to make enquiries and receive relevant health advice.

     The DH provides vaccination services for high-risk groups of Mpox. The following high-risk target groups can receive Mpox vaccinations on a voluntary basis:
 

1. Individuals with high-risk sexual practices, e.g. having multiple sexual partners, sex workers, or having a history of sexually transmitted infection within the past 12 months;
2. Healthcare workers responsible for caring for patients with confirmed Mpox;
3. Laboratory personnel working with zoonotic pox viruses; and
4. Animal care personnel with high risk of exposure in case of Mpox occurrences in animals in Hong Kong.

     High-risk target groups can receive Mpox walk-in vaccinations at all of the DH’s Social Hygiene Service Clinics (SocHS) (namely Chai Wan SocHS, Wan Chai Male SocHS, Wan Chai Female SocHS, Yau Ma Tei Male SocHS, Yau Ma Tei Female SocHS, Yung Fung Shee SocHS, Fanling SocHS and Tuen Mun SocHS) and the DH’s Yau Ma Tei Integrated Treatment Centre.
 
     Meanwhile, the DH’s Kowloon Bay Integrated Treatment Centre and the Hospital Authority’s Special Medical Clinics at Queen Elizabeth Hospital and Princess Margaret Hospital will also provide Mpox vaccination services for their clients.
      
     For more details, please visit the CHP’s page on Mpox and Mpox Vaccination Programme. read more

     Following is a question by the Hon Edmund Wong and a written reply by the Secretary for Development, Ms Bernadette Linn, in the Legislative Council today (February 12):
 
Question:
 
     It has been reported that according to the estimation of a surveyor firm, the vacancy rate of Grade A private offices in Central has exceeded 13 per cent as at the end of December 2024, and the rents in the district are projected to further drop by 5 per cent in 2025. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) of the average per-square-foot selling prices and monthly rents, as well as the vacancy rates, for various grades of private offices in Hong Kong in the past three years, together with a quarterly breakdown of such figures; 

(2) whether it has projected the supply and demand situations of various grades of private offices in various districts in the next five years; and
 
(3) of the specific strategies to achieve a balance between the supply and demand of private offices in various districts so as to mitigate the problem of worsening vacancy rates; whether it will introduce a flexible mechanism for zoning sites in new development areas (e.g. ‍the Northern Metropolis) for commercial uses; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
 
Reply:
 
President,
 
     In consultation with the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau, the reply to various parts of the question is as follows:
      
(1) The Rating and Valuation Department (RVD) obtains property transaction and rental information from a variety of sources for compiling and periodically publishing the average prices and average rents of private premises. For private offices, it has been the RVD’s established practice to conduct detailed analysis of the seven main private office districts. According to the Hong Kong Property Review 2024 published by the RVD last April, the total stock of private offices in Hong Kong at the end of 2023 amounted to around 13 100 000 square metres (sq m), comprising 66 per cent Grade A, 23 per cent Grade B and 11 per cent Grade C offices. Their quarterly average prices and average rents by grade in main sub-districts in the past three years (i.e. from 2022 to 2024) as published by the RVD are set out at Appendix 1 and Appendix 2 respectively. 

     In addition, the RVD also conducts year-end vacancy surveys on private premises every year to provide relevant data of their vacancy position in the Hong Kong Property Review. The year-end vacancy rates for private offices in Hong Kong by grade from 2021 to 2023 are tabulated below:
 

Year	Grade A	Grade B	Grade C	Overall
2021	12.5%	13.1%	9.3%	12.3%
2022	15.1%	15.1%	8.8%	14.4%
2023	16.0%	14.9%	9.0%	14.9%

Remarks: The vacancy rates for 2024 are still being collated, and will be released in the Hong Kong Property Review 2025 to be published later this year.
 
(2) The Government does not estimate the demand for private offices in the short to medium term. As for supply of private offices, the RVD publishes in the Hong Kong Property Review each year the estimated completions of all grades of private offices in the coming two years. According to the Hong Kong Property Review 2024 published by the RVD last April, the estimated total completion of private offices in 2025 is around 136 000 sq m, constituting a slight fall as compared to 156 000 sq m in 2024. The estimated completions of private offices by grade in 2024 and 2025 are tabulated below:
 

Year	Grade A (sq m)	Grade B (sq m)	Grade C (sq m)
2024	146 000	9 300	1 000
2025	126 400	9 400	300

(3) The Government has been proactively taking various measures to promote the healthy development of the commercial property market, including:      

(i) The Government will assess the situation pragmatically and roll out land in a prudent and paced manner. Taking into account the current economic environment, the office vacancy rates and the upcoming supply expected, the Government has not put up any commercial site for sale since the financial year 2023-24, the last piece of commercial site sold in recent years being the site at Sai Yee Street in Mong Kok in March 2023. 

(ii) The Government is proactively implementing industrial policies and competing for talents and enterprises, with a view to raising both the capacity and quality of the economy. By stepping up efforts in attracting enterprises and investment and promoting Hong Kong’s unique advantages, Hong Kong will continue to draw more Mainland and overseas enterprises and investment to set up or expand their operations here, including establishing new companies or upgrading existing business in Hong Kong to regional headquarters, thereby boosting demand for shops and office space. According to the results of the latest annual survey by Invest Hong Kong and the Census and Statistics Department, the number of companies in Hong Kong with overseas or Mainland parent companies rose to 9 960 in 2024, representing an annual growth of 10per cent and reaching a record high. The number of regional headquarters, regional offices and local offices of these companies also increased by more than 5 per cent, 4 per cent and 13 per cent respectively. In addition, by end 2024, the Office for Attracting Strategic Enterprises has successfully attracted nearly 70 strategic enterprises. The majority of these enterprises plan to establish their global or regional headquarters in Hong Kong, which will drive the demand for office space. 

(iii) In terms of land use planning, traditional office premises are mainly zoned “Commercial” (the “C” zone) on the statutory plans. Apart from office, the “C” zone generally accommodates various other always-permitted uses including hotel, eating place, shop and services, educational institution, exhibition or conference hall, place of recreation, sports or culture, place of entertainment, and information technology and telecommunications industries (such as data centres, data processing/computer centres). In other words, the current planning regime provides flexibility for developers to pursue other non-office commercial uses within the “C” zone, taking into account market conditions and business considerations. In addition, the recently amended planning guidelines for the Hung Shui Kiu / Ha Tsuen New Development Area in the Northern Metropolis no longer specify the allocation of floor space of commercial sites to office and retail uses. This is to reserve sufficient flexibility in planning to enable timely response to market changes.

(iv) When planning the new development areas in the Northern Metropolis, we will suitably propose individual sites for a wider range of uses to cater for the changing market needs. For example, sites near the proposed Northern Link Railway Station are zoned “Other Specified Uses” annotated “Mixed Use” on the San Tin Technopole Outline Zoning Plan. This is to endow the area with flexibility in development, allowing various uses including commercial, residential, educational, cultural, recreational and entertainment uses, either vertically within a building or horizontally over a spatial area.   

(v) For certain sizable development projects that involve larger investment, the Development Bureau (DEVB) will maintain close communication with the market and relevant industries, gauging the views of the stakeholders on the development direction of the project and the tender conditions. For example, the DEVB invited the market last December to submit expression of interest for the three pilot areas of large-scale land disposal in the Northern Metropolis, hoping to collect market views and suggestions in order to finalise the open tender details and conditions later. 

(vi) The Northern Metropolis is a development project spanning across a number of years. We are mindful of the need for flexibility in planning to timely meet the needs of the society and industry development. Even if the relevant statutory plans have designated the permitted land uses for sites within the Northern Metropolis, the current planning regime caters for adjustment by allowing applications for planning permission and amendment of plans. The Town Planning Board will holistically consider these applications in light of prevailing circumstances.  read more

     â€‹Following is a question by the Hon Elizabeth Quat and a reply by the Secretary for Transport and Logistics, Ms Mable Chan, in the Legislative Council today (February 12):

Question:

     Low-altitude economy (LAE), with its long industrial chain, extensive application scenarios and huge development potential, is a model for fostering new quality productive forces. In the 2024 Policy Address, the Chief Executive has announced the work direction for promoting the development of LAE, with a view to pressing ahead with the promotion of LAE as one of the growth engines of new quality productive forces. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) given that the Government accepted applications for the first batch of LAE Regulatory Sandbox pilot projects at the end of last year, of the progress of processing the applications and when successful applications will commence their projects; of the details of the second batch applications;

(2) given that the aforesaid Policy Address proposes to explore with the Mainland the joint establishment of low-altitude cross-boundary air routes, immigration and customs clearance arrangements and supporting infrastructure, etc, of the details and progress of the relevant work plan; and

(3) given that the Government has previously remarked in its reply to my question that various government departments have applied small unmanned aircraft in different scenarios, and have integrated such applications with artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to perform certain tasks, so as to enhance the efficiency of urban management and public services, yet there is no mention on whether it would explore the establishment of an “AI-integrated unmanned aircraft urban management system” for use by and sharing of data and information among different government departments, whether the Government will, by drawing on the experience of the relevant Mainland departments in sharing and collaboration, promote institutional innovation to reform urban management?

Reply: 

President,

     In the 2024 Policy Address, the Chief Executive announced the work direction for promoting the development of low-altitude economy (LAE), which includes designating specific application sites to implement pilot projects. We will adopt a “top-level planning” approach as the core, starting from the perspective of overall infrastructure planning. Leveraging Hong Kong’s unique advantages of “one country, two systems”, connection with both the Mainland and the world, as well as a diverse talent pool, we will harness Hong Kong’s strengths in the area of LAE to contribute to the nation’s development of new quality productive forces.

     In consultation with the Innovation, Technology and Industry Bureau and the Civil Aviation Department (CAD), the reply to the Hon Elizabeth Quat’s question is as follows:
     
(1) The first batch of Regulatory Sandbox (Sandbox) pilot projects was open for application in November 2024, with the application period closing at the end of last year. The Working Group on Developing LAE (the Working Group) is reviewing the projects submitted by a total of 72 applicants. It is expected that the results will be announced in the first quarter of this year and the project work will commence thereafter. Subject to the implementation of the first batch of pilot projects, we will announce the application details of the second batch of Sandbox pilot projects in due course.

     At the same time, the Government is reviewing the existing civil aviation legislation and regulatory regimes, with the target to submit the first phase of legislative amendment proposals to the Legislative Council (LegCo) within the second quarter of this year. The proposal is to expand the regulatory scope of the existing Small Unmanned Aircraft Order (Cap. 448G) to cover unmanned aircraft weighing between 25 and 150 kilogrammes. We also plan to take this opportunity to simultaneously introduce provisions in the Air Navigation (Hong Kong) Order 1995 (Cap. 448C) to empower the Director-General of Civil Aviation to permit trial flights of Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) under specified conditions, provided that aviation safety requirements are met. I hope the legislative amendment proposals will be able to expedite the implementation of the Sandbox pilot projects in the future and, in particular, meet the expectation of the market, the industry and from Members of the LegCo during our previous discussions that Hong Kong should conduct trials of projects involving heavier loading and carriage of passengers. In the long term, we are studying the introduction of a new, dedicated legislation for various AAM weighing over 150 kg. These legislative amendment work will not only align with future technological and application developments, but will also lay a foundation for low-altitude passenger-carrying flying activities in the future and position Hong Kong to play a significant role in advancing LAE regulatory certification.
     
(2) In addition to promoting local applications, the Government is actively exploring the feasibility of cross-boundary delivery of goods and carriage of passengers. At the same time, cross-boundary helicopter services can enhance the convenience and efficiency of travel between different cities in the Greater Bay Area (GBA), further integrating Hong Kong’s diverse economy with other cities in the region and giving full play to Hong Kong’s unique advantage as a hub for connecting with both the Mainland and the world. To this end, the Government is actively promoting interface with relevant Mainland authorities to discuss the joint development of low-altitude cross-boundary air routes, immigration and customs arrangements, and supporting infrastructure, etc.

     In November last year, led by the Deputy Financial Secretary, representatives from the Transport and Logistics Bureau, the Security Bureau, the CAD, the Immigration Department and the Hong Kong Customs visited Shenzhen to exchange views with the relevant authorities on cross-boundary flying activities. During the visit, the responsible lead units were identified, and both sides agreed to continue communication on the development of LAE. Looking ahead, the Working Group will maintain contact with the relevant authorities, with the aim to facilitate co-operation as soon as possible to create favourable conditions for establishing the GBA low-altitude cross-boundary corridor.
     
(3) For LAE to take off, infrastructure is indispensable. Currently, a number of government departments are already utilising drone and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in various application scenarios to enhance services. Relevant departments are also leveraging various types of data from the Common Spatial Data Infrastructure and Open Data Portal (such as maps, aerial photographs, three-dimensional geospatial data, traffic data, and weather data) to facilitate innovative applications of unmanned aircraft and the open up and sharing of related city data. Additionally, the Digital Policy Office has launched several central platform services to further support various policy bureaux and departments (B/Ds) in making good use of digital technology to optimise public services and city management. The Hon Elizabeth Quat, with the rapid technological advancement, the Government will consider the needs of different departments for innovation of public services and city management, as well as draw on domestic and international experiences to build a low-altitude smart network and explore various digital solutions that promote data interoperability, sharing and analytical applications.

     At the same time, among the Sandbox pilot projects applications we have received, there are various urban management application projects, some of which include proposals combining technologies such as AI analysis, automatic identification systems, algorithms, and high-precision positioning. We will actively take forward the first batch of Sandbox pilot projects with an aim to drive the local technology industry towards greater professionalism and standardisation, enabling LAE to “fly steadily and far,” while positioning Hong Kong as an incubation hub for LAE innovative industries.
     
     Additionally, the Government is conducting technical research on low-altitude infrastructure, including the feasibility of low-altitude surveillance and management systems, low-altitude data sharing, and the application of Geographic Information System technology and three-dimensional geospatial data. We will continue to actively take forward these issues under the leadership of the Working Group.
     
     To conclude, President, the Government will continue to promote the development of LAE in Hong Kong through various measures, including the implementation of Sandbox pilot projects, strengthening cross-boundary co-operation, and enhancing infrastructure and technical support. These efforts aim to establish an innovative, efficient, and secure LAE ecosystem for Hong Kong.

     Thank you. read more

     Police are investigating a murder and suicide case in Yuen Long happened yesterday (February 11) in which three men died.        At 8.12pm yesterday, Police received a report that two men were found l… read more

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

     The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) wishes to alert members of the public to a press release issued by Chong Hing Bank Limited relating to fraudulent websites and social media accounts, which have been reported to the HKMA. A hyperlink to the press release is available on the HKMA website.

     The HKMA wishes to remind the public that banks will not send SMS or emails with embedded hyperlinks which direct them to the banks’ websites to carry out transactions. They will not ask customers for sensitive personal information, such as login passwords or one-time password, by phone, email or SMS (including via embedded hyperlinks).

     Anyone who has provided his or her personal information, or who has conducted any financial transactions, through or in response to the websites or social media accounts concerned, should contact the bank using the contact information provided in the press release, and report the matter to the Police by contacting the Crime Wing Information Centre of the Hong Kong Police Force at 2860 5012. read more