A runway incident occurred at the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) yesterday (May 22) evening. No one was injured and the operation of the HKIA was not affected by the incident.

     The Civil Aviation Department (CAD) carried out initial investigation which revealed that at about 6.15pm last evening, a Federal Express MD11 freighter (flight number: FX9741) travelling from Anchorage to Hong Kong was approaching the South Runway (25L), meanwhile a Hong Kong Airlines A330 airliner (flight number: HX765) with no passenger on board from Hong Kong to Bangkok, was on its take-off run. Before landing, the crew of the Federal Express freighter noticed the aircraft ahead had not fully departed from the runway and decided to execute a missed approach. The Hong Kong Airlines airliner was not affected and took off as normal. The Federal Express freighter landed uneventfully from another approach after completing the missed approach. According to the preliminary information, when the Federal Express freighter commenced the climb during the missed approach, the two aircraft were more than 1.7 kilometers apart.

     The CAD attaches great importance to the runway incident and is sparing no effort to investigate it. The CAD has reported also the incident to the Air Accident Investigation Authority in accordance with the established mechanism.

     The "Anti-epidemic Support Scheme for Property Management Sector" (ASPM) under the "Anti-epidemic Fund" is open for applications and continues to disburse subsidies.

     The ASPM is implemented by the Property Management Services Authority (PMSA).  As of today (May 23), the PMSA has received about 8 900 applications for the ASPM, of which over 6 900 applications have been approved.  The approved applications involve subsidies of about $240 million and benefit more than 31 600 building blocks and around 60 700 front-line property management (PM) workers.  Please refer to the website of the PMSA (www.pmsahk.org.hk/en) for the name of the properties for which applications have been approved.

     The Government has launched the ASPM under the "Anti-epidemic Fund" to subsidise owners' organisations (OOs) or PM companies of eligible buildings to provide the "Anti-epidemic Hardship Allowance" to the front-line PM workers.  The ASPM will also provide the "Anti-epidemic Cleansing Subsidy" to OOs or PM companies.  Phase I of the ASPM covers private residential and composite (i.e. commercial cum residential) buildings; whereas Phase II of the ASPM covers industrial and commercial buildings (including shopping malls).

     The application deadline for the ASPM Phase I and Phase II is May 31 and June 15 respectively.  Eligible PM companies and OOs are reminded to submit their applications to the PMSA as soon as practicable.  For details on the ASPM, please contact the PMSA at 3696 1156 or 3696 1166, or visit the website of the PMSA. 

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     As at noon today (May 23), no COVID-19 confirmed patient was discharged from hospital in the past 24 hours. So far, a total of 1 029 confirmed and suspected patients have been discharged.

     At present, there are 659 negative pressure rooms in public hospitals with 1 219 negative pressure beds activated. A total of 33 confirmed patients are currently hospitalised in eight hospitals, among which one patient is in critical condition (case number: 595) and the remaining 32 patients are in stable condition.

     The Hospital Authority will maintain close contact with the Centre for Health Protection to monitor the latest developments and to inform the public and healthcare workers on the latest information in a timely manner.

     The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health has announced that as of 4pm today (May 23), no new local confirmed cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) had been recorded, and that the number of cases in Hong Kong remained at 1 066 so far (comprising 1 065 confirmed cases and one probable case).
 
     The CHP again urged members of the public to maintain an appropriate social distance with other people as far as possible in their daily lives to minimise the risk of infection. In particular, they should go out less and avoid social activities such as meal gatherings or other gatherings to reduce the chance of contacting infected persons who may not present any symptoms, and minimise the risk of outbreak clusters emerging in the community.
   
     A spokesman for the CHP said, "Given that the situation of COVID-19 infection remains severe and that there is a continuous increase in the number of cases reported around the world, members of the public are strongly urged to avoid all non-essential travel outside Hong Kong.
 
     "The CHP also strongly urges the public to maintain at all times strict personal and environmental hygiene, which is key to personal protection against infection and prevention of the spread of the disease in the community. On a personal level, members of the public should wear a surgical mask when having respiratory symptoms, taking public transport or staying in crowded places. They should also perform hand hygiene frequently, especially before touching the mouth, nose or eyes.
 
     "As for household environmental hygiene, members of the public are advised to maintain drainage pipes properly, regularly pour water into drain outlets (U-traps) and cover all floor drain outlets when they are not in use. After using the toilet, they should put the toilet lid down before flushing to avoid spreading germs."
 
     The CHP has set up hotlines (2125 1111 and 2125 1122), which operate from 8am to midnight daily, for public enquiries. As at 3pm today, a total of 120 768 calls had been received.
 
     Moreover, the Government has launched the website "COVID-19 Thematic Website" (www.coronavirus.gov.hk) for announcing the latest updates on various news on the COVID-19 infection and health advice to help the public understand the latest updates.
 
     To prevent pneumonia and respiratory tract infection, members of the public should always maintain good personal and environmental hygiene. They are advised to:
 
• Wear a surgical mask when taking public transport or staying in crowded places. It is important to wear a mask properly, including performing hand hygiene before wearing and after removing a mask;
• Perform hand hygiene frequently, especially before touching the mouth, nose or eyes, after touching public installations such as handrails or doorknobs, or when hands are contaminated by respiratory secretions after coughing or sneezing;
• Maintain drainage pipes properly and regularly (about once a week) pour about half a litre of water into each drain outlet (U-trap) to ensure environmental hygiene;
• Cover all floor drain outlets when they are not in use;
• After using the toilet, put the toilet lid down before flushing to avoid spreading germs;
• Wash hands with liquid soap and water, and rub for at least 20 seconds. Then rinse with water and dry with a disposable paper towel. If hand washing facilities are not available, or when hands are not visibly soiled, performing hand hygiene with 70 to 80 per cent alcohol-based handrub is an effective alternative;
• Cover your mouth and nose with tissue paper when sneezing or coughing. Dispose of soiled tissues into a lidded rubbish bin, then wash hands thoroughly; and
• When having respiratory symptoms, wear a surgical mask, refrain from work or attending class at school, avoid going to crowded places and seek medical advice promptly.

     Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Education, Mr Kevin Yeung, and Deputy Secretary for Education, Mrs Hong Chan Tsui-wah, at a media session after attending a radio programme today (May 23):

Reporter: What would be the EDB's role in strengthening national security education? And can you explain why cancelling the History examination question is the only viable solution? Thank you.
 
Secretary for Education: The National People's Congress has decided to legislate for a new national security law which would be applicable to Hong Kong. We fully support this decision. One of the follow-up that they mentioned is about education on national security in Hong Kong. I think this is more than just school education. It is also about the whole education in the whole community because I believe every citizen also has the responsibility to ensure national security. In schools, of course, when the law is enacted and implemented, we will see how to explain to our students the essence of the law and also the underlying principles to them in our curriculum.
 
Reporter: The second question is about cancelling the History examination question. Why do you think it's the only viable solution?
 
Deputy Secretary for Education: The question by design has serious faults. It is not compatible with the History curriculum objectives and the information provided there does not fall into the level of understanding of the students. Because within the curriculum the main emphasis is on the invasion by Japan and, in a very rare case, school teachers would touch upon the economic invasion, literally speaking. But the information provided in the question seemed to lead students to believe that there are merits or good done by the Japanese. So that is, by itself, misleading. Students have not learned this within the curriculum and in the classroom. It is very difficult for them to judge the intricacies of the information provided to arrive at a reliable judgement. So very often they just based on the information to come up with a very superficial understanding, just like doing a comprehension exercise to believe that Japan had done some good to China but that is not true because the problem is that there are malicious intention behind and some historians would regard that as some forms of economic invasions. The information therein are not reliable, not reflected the true picture. So it is very difficult to come up with a reliable marking scheme. From the assessment point of view, for a question with serious faults in design, you cannot come up with a reliable, objective marking scheme to differentiate students. I give an example, if we have a student who comes up with just a few words saying that for that period many Chinese suffered from the Japanese invasion and we can come up with an idea about the good done by the Japanese. So that would be a very short answer. But that reflected his genuine understanding of the key historical views within that period. But you cannot count the number of points about the good done by the Japanese against the harm done by the Japanese. So it’s not that level of comparison, it's not counting the number of points and a balanced treatment. So the design of the question has serious faults. And that's why you cannot come up with a reliable marking scheme to differentiate students. For those who have a thorough understanding, may be they just come up a very strong view about the Japanese invasion without mentioning any benefits. We have thought about that from this perspective and all the reasons are detailed in the panel paper. You can make reference to them.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)