Tag Archives: China

     The Labour Department (LD) announced today (March 5) that after a staff member had earlier preliminarily tested positive for COVID-19, his co-living family member also preliminarily tested positive.
           
     The family member, also a staff member of the LD, works in the Labour Inspection Division on the 10th floor of Cheung Sha Wan Government Offices which is the adjacent office on the same floor of the staff member preliminarily confirmed with infection earlier. She last went to the office on March 4. She had no contact with members of the public in her daily work, and had been wearing surgical masks and properly maintaining social distancing with other people while performing duties. Her body temperature was normal during temperature screening at work.

     The LD has arranged to fully clean and sterilise the workplace of the staff member concerned, including the common areas, in accordance with the guidelines of the Centre for Health Protection (CHP). The Labour Inspection Division and Minor Employment Claims Adjudication Board (MECAB) on the same floor will be closed for 14 days in accordance with the CHP’s advice. All staff working on the same floor have to undertake COVID-19 tests and work from home until the test results are available. The service counters of the MECAB, the Labour Relations Division (Kowloon West Branch Office), the Employees’ Compensation Division, the Occupational Medicine Unit (Kowloon), and the Operations Division (Kowloon Region) of the Occupational Safety Service on the same floor have suspended services until further notice. Members of the public who have made prior service appointments with these offices will be informed of the alternative arrangements individually.

     The LD is highly concerned about the recent cases and will maintain close liaison with the CHP in its anti-epidemic work. It will continue to implement various disease prevention measures, and remind all staff to stay vigilant in regard to personal hygiene at all times. If they feel unwell, they should seek medical advice immediately and inform the department. read more

     The inter-departmental Pest Control Steering Committee (PCSC) held a meeting today (March 5) to formulate the work plans and indicators for rodent and mosquito control this year. Various departments will conduct more targeted pest control work at venues under their respective management.
 
     At the meeting today, the PCSC formulated indicators and work plan for this year to drive departments in stepping up their effort in rodent control. The plan includes the use of poison treatments of rodent infestation and rodent trappings by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD); designation of about 80 priority estates by the Housing Authority for conducting additional preventive, promotion and education efforts; improvement works in back alleys by the Highways Department on a need basis; further deployment of thermal cameras to detect rodent activities by the FEHD in all designated target areas across the territory and survey areas where rodent infestation is more severe, with a view to making anti-rodent operations more targeted and effective; and enhancements to the Rodent Infestation Survey (RIS), including disseminating surveillance data to various departments through the Government’s Geospatial Information Hub (GIH) platform by mid-2021 to facilitate early intervention, as well as releasing the Rodent Infestation Rate (RIR) of 50 survey areas to the public in the second quarter of 2021.
 
     The FEHD has been enhancing the surveillance of rodent infestation in multiple areas. It is working with the Lands Department to prepare for the immediate dissemination of detailed information at individual surveillance locations of the RIS through the Government’s GIH platform. This arrangement will help departments conduct timely and targeted anti-rodent operations. On the other hand, further to the increase of the number of survey areas from 41 (about 2 300 baiting points) to 50 (about 2 700 baiting points) by the FEHD last year, the RIR at all 50 survey areas will be made public starting from the second quarter of this year. In respect of survey areas where rodent infestation is more severe, the FEHD will conduct re-assessments at these locations after a one-month period of mitigation measures. This mode of strengthened monitoring was proved to be effective in containing the rodent problem during the earlier pilot scheme. The FEHD will also deploy the thermal camera monitoring system for taking targeted rodent control operations at locations where the RIR remains relatively high.
 
     In addition to the aforementioned control measures targeting at rodent infestation hotspots and enhanced surveillance, various departments agreed at the meeting to step up public engagement and education to encourage citizens to keep the environment clean and eliminate food sources for rodents, thereby addressing the problem of rodent infestation at source.
 
     As regards anti-mosquito work, the Government will consolidate the progress achieved last year. Indicators for this year include eliminating mosquito breeding places; strengthening prevention and control work at survey areas recorded with Area Gravidtrap Index (AGI) exceeding 20 per cent; keeping the AGI of all survey areas below 40 per cent; and establishing a reference level for corresponding prevention and control measures for the new Density Index (DI) for Aedes albopictus, which was introduced last year, by the end of 2021.
 
     On enhancing surveillance, since April 2020, the FEHD has introduced newly designed gravidtraps to replace ovitraps previously used to directly count the number of adult mosquitoes, so as to enumerate the Gravidtrap Index and the new DI, which reflect the extensiveness of distribution and the density of Aedes albopictus respectively. To further enhance dengue vector surveillance, the FEHD has increased the number of survey areas from 62 (about 3 360 gravidtraps) to 64 (about 3 440 gravidtraps) from January 2021. The FEHD will consolidate and review the Area Density Index data collected since April 2020 and analyse the statistics in different seasons, with a view to establishing a reference level for the DI by the end of this year, thereby facilitating the timely conduct of necessary mosquito control work by relevant departments.
 
     In light of the effectiveness of the All-out Anti-mosquito Operations in suppressing mosquito proliferation over the past two years, the Government will continue to adopt the relevant modus operandi before the rainy season this year. During the cool and dry season, various departments will inspect their venues and eliminate potential breeding places early, and deploy a total of over 5 500 mosquito trapping devices for eradicating adult mosquitoes. The FEHD will closely monitor the changes in local weather and notify various departments to start the operations simultaneously prior to the rainy season, which includes fogging operations. Departments will keep eliminating breeding places throughout the operations, promptly carry out targeted mosquito prevention and control work based on the surveillance indices, and constantly update the list of mosquito infestation hotspots.
 
     Representatives from three bureaux and 20 departments/organisation attended today’s meeting.  read more

     The Office of the Licensing Authority (OLA) of the Home Affairs Department today (March 5) applied to the court for summonses, in accordance with the Prevention and Control of Disease (Requirements and Directions) (Bu… read more

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     The spokesperson for Kwong Wah Hospital (KWH) made the following announcement today (March 5) regarding the passing away of a patient in the waiting area of the Accident and Emergency (A&E) Department:
 
     A 63-year-old male patient with chronic diseases attended the Specialist Outpatient Clinic of KWH in the afternoon on February 26 for follow-up consultation. In view of the complaints of cough and blood-stained sputum, the patient was advised by a doctor to be admitted to hospital on the same day for checking and treatment. At around 3pm, the patient was escorted to the A&E Department in accordance with established guidelines. Medical assessment and investigations were conducted for the patient from around 4pm to 6pm. After that, it was arranged for the patient to wait in the waiting area for admission to a medical ward. The patient was conscious and stable, and was accompanied by a family member. During his stay in the A&E Department, the hospital provided care to the patient.
 
     At 10.30pm, healthcare staff prepared to transfer the patient to the ward, but they could not locate the patient by calling the patient’s name in the waiting area, calling via the Public Address System, or calling his mobile phone. At around 2am on February 27, the patient was called again via the Public Address System, but it was still in vain. At about 5am, a hospital staff member found the patient unresponsive and pulseless on a stretcher in the waiting hall. Resuscitation was performed immediately, and his family members were informed. The patient was certified dead at 5.17am. 
 
     The hospital met the patient’s family members today to explain the details of the incident and extend sincere apologies. The hospital also expressed condolences to his family members, and will offer the necessary assistance.
 
     KWH is very concerned about the incident and has reminded A&E Department staff to enhance monitoring of patients awaiting admission in the waiting area. The hospital has reported the incident to Hospital Authority Head Office via the Advance Incident Reporting System. An investigation panel will be formed to look into the incident. The investigation report will be submitted to the Hospital Authority Head Office. The case has been referred to the Coroner for follow-up.
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The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:

     The President of the Legislative Council (LegCo), Mr Andrew Leung, today (March 5) issued through the LegCo Secretariat the following statement in response to a draft decision on improving the electoral system of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) to be deliberated by the National People’s Congress (NPC):

     NPC will deliberate a draft decision on improving the electoral system of HKSAR, which involves amending Annex I and Annex II to the Basic Law with respect to the methods for the selection of the Chief Executive and the formation of LegCo. The enactment of local legislation is also required.

     The principle of “the administration of Hong Kong by Hong Kong people, with patriots forming the mainstay”, as put forward by the Central Authorities, is conducive to safeguarding national security and development interests, as well as improving the political system of Hong Kong in the light of its actual situation. It is also a universal principle that people vested with governing powers and responsibilities must be patriotic.

     It is both understandable and appropriate for the Central Authorities to take the initiative at the national level to improve the electoral system of Hong Kong. An improved electoral system can rationalize the constitutional order, establish a peaceful and rational legislature, reduce unnecessary internal attrition and conflicts, ensure the steadfast and successful implementation of “one country, two systems”, contribute to the long-term prosperity and stable development of our society, and ensure the stability of people’s livelihood.

     Hong Kong embraces a wide political spectrum. The Central Authorities have all along been understanding and accommodating the diverse views in our society. It is believed that upon the improvement of the electoral system, there will still be a variety of voices in the legislature. When enacting the relevant local legislation, LegCo will, as always, discharge its constitutional functions to scrutinize the proposed legislation. read more