The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health is today (March 5) investigating an influenza A outbreak at a kindergarten in Kowloon City, and again reminded the public to maintain strict personal and environmental hygiene against influenza.

     The outbreak involves six boys and 14 girls aged 3 to 5 who have developed fever, cough and runny nose since February 18. All of them sought medical attention but none required hospitalisation. All patients are in a stable condition. The respiratory specimens of two students tested positive for influenza A upon laboratory testing.

     Officers of the CHP have conducted a site visit and advised the school to adopt necessary infection control measures against respiratory tract infections. The school has been placed under medical surveillance.

     A spokesman for the CHP said, "To prevent outbreaks of influenza and other respiratory infections, it is of prime importance that students with fever, regardless of the presence of respiratory symptoms, should not be allowed to attend school. They should seek medical advice and avoid school till 48 hours after the fever has subsided. Schools should also measure and record students' body temperature properly."

     Schools are reminded to follow the Guidelines on Prevention of Communicable Diseases on preventive and control measures as well as management of outbreaks, which should be reported to the CHP for prompt follow-up.

     "The latest surveillance data showed that the local influenza activity has continued to decrease from the peak level in January but remained above the baseline threshold. We urge the community to continue heightening its vigilance against seasonal influenza. As young children are particularly affected in this influenza season, we appeal to parents who have not yet arranged vaccination for their children in this season to do so as soon as possible to strengthen their personal protection," the spokesman said.

     Apart from children, people aged 50 to 64 years, the elderly and those with underlying illnesses who have not yet received influenza vaccination this season are also urged to get vaccinated as early as possible to prevent seasonal influenza as it takes about two weeks for antibodies to develop in the body after vaccination. Medical advice should be sought promptly if influenza-like symptoms develop so that appropriate treatment can be initiated as early as possible to prevent potential complications. Parents and carers are reminded to render assistance in prevention, care and control for vulnerable people.

     Besides receiving seasonal influenza vaccination as early as possible for personal protection, the public should maintain good personal and environmental hygiene for protection against influenza and other respiratory illnesses. For more information, please visit the CHP's influenza page and weekly Flu Express.

     A woman was fined $20,000 at the Eastern Magistrates' Courts today (March 5) for contravening the Hotel and Guesthouse Accommodation Ordinance.
           
     The courts heard that in January last year, officers of the Office of the Licensing Authority (OLA), Home Affairs Department, inspected a suspected unlicensed guesthouse on King's Road in North Point. The OLA officers posed as lodgers and successfully rented a room in the guesthouse on a daily basis.
           
     According to the OLA's records, the guesthouse did not possess a licence under the Ordinance on the day of inspection. The woman responsible for operating the premises was charged with contravening section 5(1) of the Ordinance.
           
     A department spokesman stressed that operating or managing an unlicensed guesthouse is a criminal offence and will lead to a criminal record. Upon conviction, the offender is liable to a maximum fine of $200,000 and two years' imprisonment.
           
     The spokesman appealed to anyone with information about suspected unlicensed guesthouses to report it to the OLA through the hotline (Tel: 2881 7498), by email (hadlaenq@had.gov.hk), by fax (2504 5805) using the report form downloaded from the OLA website (www.hadla.gov.hk), or through the mobile application "Hong Kong Licensed Hotels and Guesthouses".

     Hongkong Post announced today (March 5) that, as advised by the postal administration of Saudi Arabia, due to a port customs clearance issue, mail acceptance has ceased. All surface mail services (including letter post items and parcels) to Saudi Arabia are suspended with immediate effect until further notice.
 

     The Secretary for the Environment, Mr Wong Kam-sing, today (March 5) officiated at the opening ceremony of the Kwai Tsing Community Green Station (CGS), marking the launch of full services at the Kwai Tsing CGS to encourage members of the public to practise waste reduction and clean recycling, and to foster a green community.

     Officiating at today's opening ceremony, Mr Wong said that the Government is adopting a multi-pronged approach including introducing municipal solid waste (MSW) charging and progressively implementing various Producer Responsibility Schemes, with a view to promoting waste reduction at source and clean recycling, as well as reducing the overall waste disposal level and promoting a circular economy. To strengthen public education and recycling support for waste reduction and recycling, the Government is expanding the CGS network across the territory to enhance the support for waste reduction and recycling and environmental education at the community level.

     Following an open tender by the Environmental Protection Department (EPD), the New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association (New Life) was awarded a three-year service contract to operate the Kwai Tsing CGS in June last year. Mr Wong noted that New Life has long-term community service experience in Kwai Tsing, where it has provided mental health and vocational rehabilitation services for people with disabilities since 1981. Mr Wong said he is confident that New Life will be able to develop an extensive service network and provide recycling support and environmental education programmes to promote the message of "use less, waste less" at the community level, which will help facilitate the implementation of MSW charging in due course.

     Located at 12 Tam Kon Shan Road in Tsing Yi, the Kwai Tsing CGS is open to the public from 8am to 8pm on a daily basis, except for specified closed days. The Kwai Tsing CGS already provides a collection service for recyclables for housing estates and organisations taking part in its recycling programmes in the district. The recyclables, including waste paper, waste plastics, waste metal, electrical appliances, glass containers, compact fluorescent lamps and tubes, and rechargeable batteries, are collected in community regularly and sent to suitable recyclers for treatment and turned into resources. In addition, it will hold environmental education programmes at various locations in the district and organise large-scale green events from time to time to facilitate the exchange of reusable resources like used clothing, books and other reusable items and encourage waste reduction at source.

     Together with the Kwai Tsing CGS, there are seven CGS projects in operation. All these projects are operating smoothly and making good progress in providing support for waste reduction and recycling in the community. As at the end of 2018, the CGSs have cumulatively collected over 4 200 tonnes of recyclables, received more than 790 000 visitors and organised over 4 000 environmental education events.

     In addition, an open tendering exercise for two service contracts of the Tai Po CGS and the Islands CGS is in progress and the contracts are expected to be awarded in the first half of 2019. Information on the latest progress of the CGS projects is available on the EPD website at www.wastereduction.gov.hk/en/community/cgs_intro.htm. Members of the public can also learn more about CGS events through the dedicated Facebook pages of the individual CGSs.

     The Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) today (March 5) released the statistics on vessels, port cargo and containers for the fourth quarter of 2018.
 
     In the fourth quarter of 2018, total port cargo throughput decreased by 13.0% compared with the fourth quarter of 2017 to 65.1 million tonnes. Within this total, inward port cargo and outward port cargo decreased by 14.3% and 10.8% compared with the fourth quarter of 2017 to 40.0 million tonnes and 25.1 million tonnes respectively.
 
     For 2018 as a whole, total port cargo throughput decreased by 8.2% compared with the whole year of 2017 to 258.5 million tonnes. Within this total, inward port cargo and outward port cargo decreased by 8.6% and 7.4% compared with the whole year of 2017 to 159.5 million tonnes and 99.0 million tonnes respectively.
 
     On a seasonally adjusted quarter-to-quarter comparison, total port cargo throughput increased by 4.8% in the fourth quarter of 2018. Within this total, inward port cargo and outward port cargo increased by 7.4% and 0.8% respectively compared with the preceding quarter. The seasonally adjusted series enables more meaningful shorter-term comparison to be made for discerning possible variations in trends.
 
Port cargo
 
     Within port cargo, seaborne and river cargo decreased by 6.0% and 22.8% in the fourth quarter of 2018 compared with the fourth quarter of 2017 to 41.2 million tonnes and 23.9 million tonnes respectively.
 
     Within inward port cargo, imports and inward transhipment decreased by 18.0% and 8.8% in the fourth quarter of 2018 compared with the fourth quarter of 2017 to 22.7 million tonnes and 17.3 million tonnes respectively. For outward port cargo, exports (including domestic exports and re-exports) and outward transhipment decreased by 22.7% and 3.3% compared with the fourth quarter of 2017 to 8.3 million tonnes and 16.8 million tonnes respectively.
 
     Within port cargo, seaborne and river cargo decreased by 7.0% and 10.2% in the whole year of 2018 compared with the whole year of 2017 to 164.5 million tonnes and 94.0 million tonnes respectively.
 
     Within inward port cargo, imports and inward transhipment decreased by 8.9% and 8.3% in the whole year of 2018 compared with the whole year of 2017 to 91.4 million tonnes and 68.1 million tonnes respectively. For outward port cargo, exports and outward transhipment decreased by 11.4% and 5.2% compared with the whole year of 2017 to 33.8 million tonnes and 65.3 million tonnes respectively.
 
     The detailed port cargo statistics are summarised in Table 1.
 
     The main countries/territories of loading of inward port cargo and countries/territories of discharge of outward port cargo are shown in Table 2 and Table 3 respectively.
 
     Comparing the fourth quarter of 2018 with the fourth quarter of 2017, double-digit increases were recorded in the tonnage of inward port cargo loaded in Malaysia (+22.8%) and Taiwan (+19.0%). On the other hand, double-digit decreases were recorded in the tonnage of inward port cargo loaded in Indonesia (-45.6%), the United States of America (-18.1%), Korea (-16.9%), Singapore (-16.6%), Japan (-14.1%) and the mainland of China (-11.6%). For outward port cargo, double-digit increase was recorded in the tonnage of outward port cargo discharged in the Philippines (+20.2%). On the other hand, double-digit decreases were recorded in the tonnage of outward port cargo discharged in Macao (-19.2%), the mainland of China (-15.8%) and Taiwan (-11.7%).
 
     Comparing the whole year of 2018 with the whole year of 2017, double-digit increase was recorded in the tonnage of inward port cargo loaded in Malaysia (+15.2%). On the other hand, double-digit decreases were recorded in the tonnage of inward port cargo loaded in Singapore (-19.1%), Japan (-19.0%), the United States of America (-15.3%), Korea (-14.7%) and Indonesia (-10.2%). For outward port cargo, double-digit increase was recorded in the tonnage of outward port cargo discharged in the Philippines (+13.0%). On the other hand, double-digit decreases were recorded in the tonnage of outward port cargo discharged in Macao (-50.6%), Korea (-15.3%), Thailand (-14.0%), Taiwan (-13.2%) and Malaysia (-10.6%).
 
     The principal commodities of inward port cargo and outward port cargo are shown in Table 4 and Table 5 respectively.
 
     Comparing the fourth quarter of 2018 with the fourth quarter of 2017, double-digit decreases were recorded in the tonnage of inward port cargo of "coal, coke and briquettes" (-45.3%), "stone, sand and gravel" (-27.5%) and "logs and timber; wood, simply worked" (-27.3%). As for outward port cargo, double-digit changes were recorded in the tonnage of "artificial resins and plastic materials" (+18.8%), "logs and timber; wood, simply worked" (-20.0%), "metalliferous ores and metal scrap" (-28.0%) and "stone, sand and gravel" (-36.7%).
 
     Comparing the whole year of 2018 with the whole year of 2017, double-digit decreases were recorded in the tonnage of inward port cargo of "stone, sand and gravel" (-16.5%) and "coal, coke and briquettes" (-13.9%). As for outward port cargo, double-digit decreases were recorded in the tonnage of "metalliferous ores and metal scrap" (-27.6%) and "stone, sand and gravel" (-14.1%).
 
Containers
 
     In the fourth quarter of 2018, the port of Hong Kong handled 4.96 million TEUs of containers, representing a decrease of 4.9% compared with the fourth quarter of 2017. Within this total, laden containers decreased by 5.8% to 4.19 million TEUs, while empty containers increased by 0.6% to 0.76 million TEUs. Among laden containers, inward and outward containers decreased by 7.8% and 3.6% to 2.16 million TEUs and 2.03 million TEUs respectively.
 
     For 2018 as a whole, the port of Hong Kong handled 19.60 million TEUs of containers, representing a decrease of 5.7% compared with the whole year of 2017. Within this total, laden and empty containers decreased by 5.9% and 4.0% to 16.70 million TEUs and 2.90 million TEUs respectively. Among laden containers, inward and outward containers decreased by 6.3% and 5.5% to 8.63 million TEUs and 8.07 million TEUs respectively.
 
     On a seasonally adjusted quarter-to-quarter comparison, laden container throughput increased by 3.2% in the fourth quarter of 2018. Within this total, inward and outward laden containers increased by 2.9% and 3.5% respectively.
 
     In the fourth quarter of 2018, seaborne and river laden containers decreased by 6.9% and 3.0% compared with the fourth quarter of 2017 to 2.95 million TEUs and 1.24 million TEUs respectively.
 
     Within inward laden containers, imports and inward transhipment decreased by 7.1% and 8.1% in the fourth quarter of 2018 compared with the fourth quarter of 2017 to 0.64 million TEUs and 1.52 million TEUs respectively. For outward laden containers, exports and outward transhipment decreased by 0.2% and 4.9% to 0.57 million TEUs and 1.46 million TEUs respectively.
 
     In the whole year of 2018, seaborne and river laden containers decreased by 7.7% and 1.3% compared with the whole year of 2017 to 11.88 million TEUs and 4.82 million TEUs respectively.
 
     Within inward laden containers, imports and inward transhipment decreased by 5.5% and 6.6% in the whole year of 2018 compared with the whole year of 2017 to 2.57 million TEUs and 6.06 million TEUs respectively. For outward laden containers, exports and outward transhipment decreased by 5.9% and 5.4% to 2.25 million TEUs and 5.82 million TEUs respectively.
 
     The detailed container statistics are summarised in Table 6.
 
     Port cargo and laden container statistics are compiled from a sample of consignments listed in the cargo manifests supplied by shipping companies and agents to the C&SD.
 
Vessel arrivals
 
     Comparing the fourth quarter of 2018 with the fourth quarter of 2017, the number of ocean vessel arrivals decreased by 2.5% to 6 425, with the total capacity also decreasing by 1.3% to 100.1 million net registered tons. Meanwhile, the number of river vessel arrivals decreased by 8.8% to 36 997, with the total capacity also decreasing by 4.9% to 28.6 million net registered tons.
 
     Comparing the whole year of 2018 with the whole year of 2017, the number of ocean vessel arrivals decreased by 5.2% to 25 410, with the total capacity also decreasing by 5.2% to 398.7 million net registered tons. Meanwhile, the number of river vessel arrivals decreased by 5.9% to 149 200, with the total capacity also decreasing by 7.5% to 110.7 million net registered tons.
 
     The statistics on vessel arrivals in Hong Kong are given in Table 7.
 
     Vessel statistics are compiled by the Marine Department primarily from general declarations submitted by ship masters and authorised shipping agents. Pleasure vessels and fishing vessels plying exclusively within the river trade limits are excluded.
 
Further information
 
     More detailed statistics on port cargo, containers and vessels are published in the report "Hong Kong Shipping Statistics, Fourth Quarter 2018". Users can download this publication free of charge at the website of the C&SD (www.censtatd.gov.hk/hkstat/sub/sp130.jsp?productCode=B1020008).
 
     For enquiries about port cargo and container statistics, please contact the Outward Processing and Shipping Statistics Section of the C&SD (Tel: 2582 2126 or email: shipping@censtatd.gov.hk). For enquiries about vessel statistics, readers may contact the Statistics Section under the Planning, Development and Port Security Branch of the Marine Department (Tel: 2852 3661 or email: st-sec@mardep.gov.hk).