The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     During the service demand surge, the Hospital Authority is closely monitoring the service demand of Accident and Emergency Departments and the occupancy rates in public hospitals. Key service statistics are being issued daily for public information. Details are in the appended table.

     Following is the opening remarks (English translation) by the Secretary for Education, Mr Kevin Yeung, at the special meeting of the Legislative Council Finance Committee today (April 16):

Chairman,

      The estimated total expenditure on education in 2021-22 is $110.9 billion. Of this, the recurrent education expenditure increases by $3.6 billion to $100.7 billion, accounting for about one-fifth of the estimated total government recurrent expenditure. The recurrent expenditure on education has, over 10 years (i.e. from 2012-13 to 2021-22 financial year), increased by 67 per cent with an average growth rate of 5.8 per cent per annum. This clearly demonstrates the Government's long-term commitment to invest in education.

      We are committed to providing quality education through upholding the "Led by Professionals" principle, listening carefully to voices of the education sector and devoting substantial resources to education. Over the past three years, the Government has allocated a total of over $13.5 billion recurrent expenditure for the implementation of a series of improvement measures, covering education manpower, funding and hardware, to improve the quality of education. In 2021-22, we will take forward the following new measures.

      For basic education, we will further promote Applied Learning to make it a valued senior secondary elective subject. At the same time, while we will provide students with the subsidy and more diversified courses to broaden their studies and learning experience, so as to facilitate their diversified development, we will also implement the reform of senior secondary core subjects, provide training to teachers and prepare teaching resources to help teachers get hold of the new subject of Citizenship and Social Development. We will promote national security education in schools to cultivate among students a correct understanding of the concepts of national security through relevant subjects and learning activities inside and outside classrooms; we have already provided guidelines on school administration and education as well as teacher training and resource materials to schools to enable school personnel and students to understand and comply with the National Security Law. We will also work with post-secondary institutions to promote national security education at the post-secondary level. The training requirements for newly appointed and serving teachers as well as teachers to be promoted, covering professional roles, values and conduct of teachers; education development at the local, national and international levels; national education and national security education, etc, will also be stepped up.

      Furthermore, we will replace manually operated water taps with motion sensor operated ones for aided schools, and pay the examination fees for school candidates sitting for the 2022 Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination. 

      The Innovation and Technology Bureau (ITB)/Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) will also provide funding of up to $0.4 million to each subsidised primary school in the coming three school years, thereby rolling out a "Knowing More About IT Programme" to enhance students' interests and knowledge in information technology and their applications through extra-curricular activities, so as to prepare them for integration into the knowledge-based economy and participation in the development of a digital society. The OGCIO will set up a one-stop support centre to provide assistance for primary schools.

      As regards post-secondary education, the ITB and the Education Bureau will launch a "Global STEM Professorship Scheme" for a period of five years to enhance support for the University Grant Committee-funded universities to attract up to 100 internationally renowned professors in STEM-related disciplines and their teams to work in Hong Kong so as to enable our universities to scale new heights in innovation and technology teaching and research activities.

      For vocational and professional education, we will implement the Smart Technology Applications and Mobile Platform for the Vocational Training Council to further promote its provision of vocational and professional education and training (VPET). We have also commenced a review of sub-degree education and launched a pilot project on applied degrees in late-2020. Moreover, we will continue to implement the pilot scheme introduced in the 2020/21 academic year, under which an external consultant has been engaged to provide one-stop professional service on VPET for teachers of selected secondary schools, in order to enhance the promotion of VPET in secondary education.

      Chairman, my colleagues and I will be happy to answer further questions from Members. Thank you.

Attention TV/radio announcers:

Please broadcast the following as soon as possible:

Here is an item of interest to swimmers.

     The Leisure and Cultural Services Department announced today (April 16) that due to big waves, the red flag has been hoisted at Cheung Chau Tung Wan Beach in Islands District. Beach-goers are advised not to swim at the beach.

Attention TV/radio announcers:

Please broadcast the following as soon as possible:

Here is an item of interest to swimmers.

     The Leisure and Cultural Services Department announced today (April 16) that due to big waves, red flags have been hoisted at Stanley Main Beach, Shek O Beach and Big Wave Bay Beach in Southern District, Hong Kong Island; and Silverstrand Beach and Clear Water Bay Second Beach in Sai Kung District. Beach-goers are advised not to swim at these beaches.

     The COVID-19 Vaccination Programme has been implemented for the 49th day since February 26, 2021.
 
     So far, about 981 000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered for members of the public (please see Annex 1). Among them, about 648 900 persons have received their first dose, with about 363 400 persons receiving the Sinovac vaccine and about 285 500 persons receiving the BioNTech vaccine. About 332 100 persons have received their second dose, with about 188 700 persons receiving the Sinovac vaccine and about 143 400 persons receiving the BioNTech vaccine.
 
     In the last 24 hours ending at 8pm today (April 15), about 29 900 persons have received vaccination and about 21 400 new vaccination bookings have been made online, detailed as follows:
 
(i) About 4 000 persons received their first dose of the Sinovac vaccine, including about 1 900 persons vaccinated at eight Community Vaccination Centres (CVCs) and about 2 100 persons at private doctors and clinics participating in the programme;
 
(ii) about 11 300 persons received their second dose of the Sinovac vaccine, including about 7 900 persons vaccinated at the CVCs and about 3 400 persons at private doctors and clinics;
 
(iii) about 12 600 persons received their first dose of the BioNTech vaccine at 21 CVCs, and about 2 000 persons received their second dose of the BioNTech vaccine;
 
(iv) the overall percentage of people who have received the Sinovac vaccine at the eight CVCs is about 97 per cent; while the overall percentage of people who have received the BioNTech vaccine at the 21 CVCs is about 93 per cent; and
 
(v) about 4 300 persons have made online bookings for receiving their first and second doses of the Sinovac vaccine, while about 17 100 persons have made online bookings for receiving their first and second doses of the BioNTech vaccine.
 
     In the last 24 hours ending at 0.00am today, there were seven cases of ambulance transfers to hospitals. Among them, three persons were discharged, one person was admitted for observation and three persons were discharged against medical advice (please see Annex 2).
 
     As background information, in the last 24 hours ending at 0.00am today, there were 43 cases of stroke or myocardial infarction that required admission to the Intensive Care Unit, Acute Stroke Unit and Cardiac Care Unit of public hospitals. The state of new cases admitted to the wards concerned is provided as a cross reference to enhance fuller public understanding of cases of the kind recorded on vaccine recipients.