The Education Bureau (EDB) today (December 28) welcomed the appointment of Dr Jimmy Wong Kam-yiu as the new Executive Director of the Hong Kong Academy for Gifted Education (HKAGE) with effect from January 4, 2021.
      
     The HKAGE has just made the announcement of the new appointment.  Dr Wong is currently a member of the Steering Committee on Strategic Development of Information Technology in Education and was formerly the Centre Director of Hong Kong New Generation Cultural Association Science Innovation Centre. In 2011, Dr Wong was awarded the Chief Executive’s Commendation for Community Service.
      
     The Secretary for Education, Mr Kevin Yeung, said, "Dr Wong has been passionately devoted to nurturing gifted students for years and has rich experience in the field. We believe that under the professional leadership of the Board of Directors of the HKAGE and the new Executive Director, the HKAGE will continue to provide quality and challenging off-school programmes for students with exceptional talents to tie in with the gifted education policy of Hong Kong. We would like to take this opportunity to express our appreciation to the outgoing Executive Director, Professor Ng Tai-kai, for his dedicated service to the HKAGE over the past years. Thanks to his leadership, the Academy has successfully enriched and diversified its gifted education programmes for students."
      
     Mr Yeung added, "The Government attaches great importance to the nurturing of talents by providing policy and resource support. The Gifted Education Fund, set up in 2016, has received a total injection of $1.6 billion so far. It provides sustained funding support to the HKAGE to enhance its services for the development of gifted education in Hong Kong and a wide variety of off-school advanced learning programmes for gifted students to unleash their potential."

     The Secretary for the Environment, Mr Wong Kam-sing, will meet the media to introduce the preliminary progress of a research project conducted by the University of Hong Kong's (HKU) cross-disciplinary team for detecting SARS-CoV-2 in sewage at 10am today (December 28) at the Auditorium, Ground Floor, Central Government Offices, 2 Tim Mei Avenue, Tamar, Hong Kong. The Dean of Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine of HKU, Professor Gabriel Leung; Professor of the Department of Civil Engineering of HKU, Professor Zhang Tong; the Assistant Director of the Drainage Services Department, Mr Eddie Pak Kan-ming; and the Senior Medical and Health Officer of the Centre for Health Protection of the Department of Health, Dr Ambrose Wong Chi-hong, will also join.
       
     Media coverage is invited. Media representatives are advised to proceed to the venue through the Staff Entrance on the second floor of the East Wing of the Central Government Offices.

     The Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, today (December 27), accompanied by the Secretary for Security, Mr John Lee, and the Secretary for Development, Mr Michael Wong, visited the headquarters of the Government Flying Service (GFS) and took a helicopter tour to view sites related to various development plans that she outlined in the 2020 Policy Address.

     Mrs Lam and the other officials first visited the GFS headquarters and were briefed by the Controller of the GFS, Captain Wu Wai-hung, on the establishment and daily work of the GFS and the performance of the new generation of helicopters it has purchased. Commending the GFS for its professionalism and bravery, given that it provides services to various government departments and bears the vital responsibility to save lives in emergencies, Mrs Lam noted that the GFS has handled nearly 2 500 cases covering provision of air ambulance service, search and rescue and firefighting operations in the first 11 months of this year with distinguished performance. She encouraged the GFS to continue to rise to the challenges and overcome difficulties to provide the best services for members of the public.

     During the visit, Mrs Lam also learned more from Captain Wu about the flight distance and time required to travel between Hong Kong and different cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) by helicopter. As mentioned by Mrs Lam in the 2020 Policy Address earlier, the Civil Aviation Administration of China has agreed to commence preparation for the provision of cross-boundary commercial helicopter services between Guangdong and Hong Kong, which will enhance the international business environment in the GBA. 

     Mrs Lam and the other officials then took a helicopter ride to have an aerial view of the reclamation works of the Three Runway System of Hong Kong International Airport and in Tung Chung, land use planning of Tuen Mun West, Lung Kwu Tan, the development of boundary control points (especially Huanggang/Lok Ma Chau Control Point and Lo Wu Control Point), the alignment of the Northern Link and more to learn more about the present situations of these areas.

     "Every land development project set out in the 2020 Policy Address is vital to the future of Hong Kong. As long as society can set aside disputes and forge a consensus, these development blueprints can all be realised to boost Hong Kong’s economic growth and create a more liveable city. In particular, along with the integration of Hong Kong into the overall development of the country and the enhancement of collaboration with Shenzhen, we will fully consider how to leverage the geographical advantages of the border area and the sites near cross-boundary infrastructure to grasp the various opportunities brought about by the GBA development," Mrs Lam said.

      

     The Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, visited the Shenzhen Bay Control Point and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Control Point today (December 27) to inspect the implementation of the Return2hk Scheme, which allows Hong Kong residents to return from Guangdong Province or Macao without being subject to quarantine, and extend her holiday greetings to colleagues on duty.

     Accompanied by the Secretary for Security, Mr John Lee; the Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Mr Erick Tsang Kwok-wai; the Commissioner of Customs and Excise, Mr Hermes Tang; the Director of Immigration, Mr Au Ka-wang; and the Commissioner for the Development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Mr Tommy Yuen, Mrs Lam visited the Shenzhen Bay Control Point and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Control Point, where she was briefed by colleagues of the relevant departments on the operation of the Return2hk Scheme since its implementation on November 23 and inspected on-site the procedures for Hong Kong residents to return under the scheme.

     Land-based cross-boundary passengers can only enter Hong Kong via the Shenzhen Bay Control Point and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Control Point amid the epidemic. Residents who intend to return to Hong Kong via the Return2hk Scheme are required to apply via an online booking system for a date for return to Hong Kong under a boundary control point-specific quota. They are also required to obtain a "Green" QR code by transmitting a valid negative COVID-19 nucleic test result to the electronic health declaration system of the Department of Health through the "Yuekang code" or the Macao Health Code within 24 hours before setting off so that they can be exempted from the compulsory quarantine requirement upon their entry into Hong Kong. A QR code of a different colour (e.g. a "Pink" QR code) means that the traveller has yet to fulfil all the specified conditions, and he or she may still be subject to the 14-day compulsory quarantine requirement upon entry into Hong Kong. Senior citizens not conversant with the system may save their QR codes on the mobile phones of their accompanying relatives and friends.

     Mrs Lam said she was pleased to note that the Return2hk Scheme has been operating smoothly. Since its implementation about a month ago, nearly 20 000 Hong Kong residents have returned to Hong Kong from Guangdong Province or Macao via the scheme with exemption from compulsory quarantine. While chatting with a father and his son returning to Hong Kong at the Shenzhen Bay Control Point, Mrs Lam noted that they returned to Hong Kong via the Return2hk Scheme today after they went to the Mainland in September and that they found the scheme met their needs and were satisfied with the arrangement.

     Mrs Lam said she believed that following the implementation of the Return2hk Scheme for a month, members of the public have learnt about the content of the scheme and the electronic application procedure through different channels, so that the immigration process has become smooth in general. She thanked colleagues of various departments working at the control points for standing fast at their posts amid the epidemic over the past year, making concerted efforts to enforce the anti-epidemic measures at the ports properly to safeguard public health.

     During the visit, Mrs Lam and the other officials proceeded to the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Control Point from the Shenzhen Bay Control Point via Tuen Mun-Chek Lap Kok Link Northern Connection, which was commissioned today, and took only about half an hour to travel from the north-western New Territories to north Lantau.

            

     The Government has exercised the power under the Prevention and Control of Disease (Compulsory Testing for Certain Persons) Regulation (Cap. 599J) and published in the Gazette a compulsory testing notice, which requires any person who had been present at two specified premises during the specified period (persons subject to compulsory testing) to undergo a COVID-19 nucleic acid test by December 30.

     A spokesman for the Food and Health Bureau (FHB) said today (December 27), "A number of confirmed cases were recently found at the Ward 2D and the Intensive Care Unit of the United Christian Hospital within a short period of time. Members of the public who had been to the relevant place might be subject to higher infection risks. The Government has published a compulsory testing notice under Cap. 599J, which requires persons who had been to the above premises during the specified period to undergo testing immediately."
 
     Details of persons subject to compulsory testing are as follows:

     Any person who had been present on any of the following premises of the United Christian Hospital, 130 Hip Wo Street, Kwun Tong at any time during the period from December 15 to December 27, 2020 (including but not limited to staff, patients and visitors):

1. Ward 2D (located on 2/F of Block P of the hospital)
 
2. Intensive Care Unit (located on 1/F of Block S of the hospital)

     Persons subject to compulsory testing may choose to undergo testing via the following routes:

1. To visit any mobile specimen collection stations (see the list and target groups (if applicable) at www.coronavirus.gov.hk/eng/early-testing.html) for testing;

2. To attend any community testing centres (see the list at www.communitytest.gov.hk/en/);

3. To obtain a deep throat saliva specimen collection pack from any of the 121 post offices, vending machines set up at 20 MTR stations or 47 designated general outpatient clinics (GOPCs) of the Hospital Authority and return the specimen to the designated specimen collection points (see the distribution points and time, and the specimen collection points and time at www.coronavirus.gov.hk/eng/early-testing.html);

4. To undergo testing at any healthcare facilities of the Hospital Authority (including GOPCs and accident and emergency departments) as instructed by a medical professional of the Hospital Authority; or

5. To self-arrange testing provided by private laboratories which are recognised by the Department of Health and can issue SMS notifications in respect of test results (see the list at www.coronavirus.gov.hk/pdf/List_of_recognised_laboratories_RTPCR.pdf)

     "If persons subject to compulsory testing have symptoms, they should seek medical attention immediately and undergo testing as instructed by a medical professional. They should not attend the mobile specimen collection stations or the community testing centres."

     Persons subject to compulsory testing must keep the SMS notification containing the result of the test, the Attendance Certificate, the Discharge Note, or the test report for checking by a law enforcement officer when the officer requires the persons to provide information about their undergoing the specified test. Furthermore, persons subject to testing under the compulsory testing notice should, as far as reasonably practicable, take appropriate personal disease prevention measures including wearing a mask and maintaining hand hygiene; and unless for the purpose of undergoing the specified test, stay at their place of residence and avoid going out until the test result is ascertained as far as possible.
 
     If persons who are subject to compulsory testing have previously undergone the above mentioned test between December 25 and December 27, they would be taken to have complied with the requirements set out in the compulsory testing notice.

     Any enquiries on compulsory testing arrangements may be addressed to the hotline at 6275 6901 which operates daily from 9am to 6pm. If persons subject to compulsory testing plan to conduct testing at any of the community testing centres, they can check the centre's appointment status in advance. The hotlines of the community testing centres are at www.communitytest.gov.hk/en/info/.

     The Government will continue to trace possibly infected persons who had been to the relevant premises, and seriously verify whether they had complied with the testing notice. Any person who fails to comply with the testing notice commits an offence and may be fined a fixed penalty of $5,000. The person would also be issued with a compulsory testing order requiring him/her to undergo testing within a specified timeframe. Failure to comply with the order is an offence and the offender would be liable to a fine at level 4 ($25,000) and imprisonment for six months.

     The spokesman said, "The Government urges all individuals who are in doubt about their own health conditions, or individuals with infection risks (such as individuals who visited places with epidemic outbreaks or contacted confirmed cases) to undergo testing promptly for early identification of infected persons. The FHB will publish compulsory testing notices regarding particular groups when necessary taking into account the epidemic development and the testing participation rate."