Author Archives: hksar gov

     The Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Mr Patrick Nip; the Secretary for Innovation and Technology, Mr Nicholas W Yang; and the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr James Lau, continued the visit with Legislative Council (LegCo) members in Hangzhou today (April 24), the last day of LegCo’s joint-panel duty visit to major cities in the Yangtze River Delta Region.

     The three Directors of Bureaux and LegCo members visited the headquarters of the Alibaba Group in the morning and learned about its development of e-commerce, intelligent logistics and financial inclusion systems. They were also briefed on the traffic management system which combines the technologies of artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and big data. The delegation also had an exchange session with the Executive Chairman of the Alibaba Group, Mr Jack Ma, as well as senior staff members of the company on the use of big data in improving city management.

     In the afternoon, the delegation met with Hong Kong people working and living in Zhejiang to understand more about their life in the province. They also toured the Hangzhou Hi-tech Industry Development Zone and visited a company specialising in ocean energy application technologies to see the latest developments in nurturing high-tech industries in the development zone, which is a national-level incubation hub for small to medium-sized technology firms.

     The delegation then proceeded to the last stop of the trip and visited WeDoctor. The company has set up an online platform linking the information systems of hospitals in different provinces of the country and provides online medical consultation services to clients. It also makes use of artificial intelligence to conduct research in the field of Chinese medicine.

     Concluding the trip, Mr Nip said that the four-day duty visit covered major development areas in Shanghai and Hangzhou, including innovation and technology, culture and conservation, education, financial services and tourism. The delegation also met with provincial and municipal officials and was briefed on the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta Region. The visit enhanced LegCo members’ knowledge and understanding of the developments and opportunities in the Yangtze River Delta Region.

     Mr Nip said that Hong Kong is an important gateway for the country’s opening up and a core engine for the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. As the country’s economy moves towards the new era of high-quality development, Hong Kong and the Yangtze River Delta Region can seize the development opportunities by enhancing co-operation from the perspective of regional development and leverage their respective advantages to serve the country’s needs and contribute to the country’s development.

          

     The Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) will present Tao Arts – Community Arts Scheme in Wan Chai District. The Scheme includes two workshops from May to December organised by ArtsArea Management that are specially … read more

     â€‹A man was fined $6,000 today (April 24) and disqualified from holding a Money Service Operator licence for six months by Shatin Magistrates’ Courts for operating a money service without a valid licence.

     Officers of the Customs and Excise Department (C&ED) on patrol earlier discovered a gold and jewellery shop in Shatin suspected of operating a money service without a licence.

     Under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance, a person who wishes to operate a remittance and/or money changing service is required to apply for a licence from the C&ED. Any person who operates a money service without a valid licence commits an offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $100,000 and imprisonment for six months.

     Members of the public may report any suspected unlicensed money service operation to the Customs’ 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk). read more

     The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, visited Lo Wu Correctional Institution (LWCI) this afternoon (April 24). He received an update on the operation of the Correctional Services Department (CSD) and its strategic plan for the Department’s future development including building a sustainable correctional system with an integrated operational protocol through development of a smart prison system.
 
     Mr Cheung was first briefed by the Commissioner of Correctional Services, Mr Woo Ying-ming, on the Department’s work priorities and the plan to introduce a smart prison system to enhance efficiency of custodial operations and security of correctional institutions through application of innovation and technology, with an aim of ensuring the safety of correctional officers in the course of law enforcement and at the same time protecting the safety of persons in custody.
 
     The smart prison system comprises four elements, namely “development of smart governance”, “implementation of process innovation”, “cultivating knowledge-based correctional officers and enhancing the capacities of rehabilitated persons to reintegrate into the society”, and “application of smart prison designs to operate correctional institutions”. CSD plans to apply these smart elements to its key facility improvement and redevelopment proposals in the future.
 
     Trial projects undertaken at LWCI include installation of the Health Signs Monitoring System (HSMS) in the hospital and setting Passage Surveillance System (PSS) in designated passage ways. The ultimate aim of the smart prison system is to combine operational systems and innovation and technology to collect, analyse and apply different data to improve the Department’s operational efficiency and institutional management, strengthen its readiness in emergency response and facilitate its long-term strategic planning.
 
     Mr Cheung then visited LWCI’s hospital where CSD officers explained the application of HSMS and PSS during daily operation. HSMS aims to monitor health conditions of persons in custody that have medical and nursing needs, including those with risks of self-harm or suicide, to enable correctional officers to receive early signals of any abnormal health conditions of persons in custody for immediate follow-up actions, thereby reducing their safety risk and enhancing quality of medical care.
 
     The Department also installs PSS in passage ways to trace real-time locations of persons in custody. An alarm will be set off once a person in custody’s movement deviates from a prescribed route so that CSD officers can take follow-up action immediately. This helps to enhance the daily operational efficiency of institutions and strengthen the monitoring of persons in custody.
 
     Mr Cheung pointed out that the current-term Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government is committed to enhancing the capacity of law enforcement agencies through innovation and technology. He commended CSD’s relentless effort in developing the smart prison system to help the Department cope with the swift, complex and ever-changing social environment while building an integrated and sustainable correctional system for Hong Kong.
 
     Mr Cheung also visited the dormitories and dayrooms to observe the daily routines of frontline CSD officers before he proceeded to the computer room and the PSY GYM.
 
     He was pleased to note that the Department had all along strived to rehabilitate persons in custody. CSD has not only arranged vocational training for persons in custody, but also established the first-ever psychological gymnasium to provide personal growth and emotion treatment centre for female adult persons in custody and specialised treatment programmes for female offenders. 
 
     Before concluding the visit, Mr Cheung visited the food waste decomposing system at LWCI. He encouraged the Department to continue to attach importance to environmental protection and strive to reduce food waste in correctional institutions. read more

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:      Regarding an earlier announcement on a cluster of patients infected with Influenza A in a male integrated medical and geriatric ward, the spokesperson for Pam… read more