Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for the Civil Service, Mrs Ingrid Yeung, at a media session after viewing the first-day operation of Private Clinic COVID-19 Vaccination Stations today (September 1):
 
Reporter: Secretary, many sports centres are vaccinating people. So, is there a reason to add private clinics to this scheme? And also, you mentioned that Sinovac is …… in private clinics, so why is there a sudden change to expand scale to BioNTech jabs as well?
 
Secretary for the Civil Service: We are using a lot of sports centres as Community Vaccination Centres. As you all know, these sports centres are built as sports centres and they do have a community function as sports centres. Moreover, some of them will need to be used by, for example, the Social Welfare Department to decant elders who are in residential homes with the virus spreading and elderlies who need to stay away from the homes for a definite period. We do need to deploy some of our sports centres for this use. That's why we believe it is an opportune time for us to add more vaccination centres for the community to facilitate members of the public to have their vaccines, to have their jabs done. As for adding the BioNTech to these private clinics, we've been using a few private clinics to test out the injection of BioNTech as it requires a dilution process. After having tested this for a long period, we find that the operators of these clinics are accustomed to this process, and are able to handle this process fairly safely. And we see that there are demands in the community for BioNTech vaccination, thus we have extended this BioNTech vaccination in private clinics to these 16 clinics that offer large-scale vaccination.
 
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)

     The Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Chris Sun, visited the Kai Tak Quarantine Centre (KTQC) at the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal this afternoon (September 1) to learn more about the preparatory work prior to its commencement of operation tomorrow (September 2) and show appreciation to staff.

     Accompanied by the Director of Social Welfare, Miss Charmaine Lee, Mr Sun first took a look at the admission procedures for residents of residential care homes (RCHs) for the elderly identified as close contacts and subject to quarantine. He was then briefed by the care teams formed by Haven of Hope Christian Service and the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals on the care services they will provide to the elderly during their stay. Nurses and personal care workers of the care team will provide the elderly with basic meals, nursing support and health monitoring, with an aim of catering for their needs as far as practicable. On-site cleaning teams will enhance disinfection to ensure environmental hygiene and prevent cross-infection.

     Mr Sun said, "Reactivating the KTQC aims to provide sufficient beds to look after RCH residents subject to quarantine to reduce the risk of cross-infection in RCHs. I am grateful to the organisations concerned for forming care teams within short notice to take care of the physical and psychological needs of the elderly during quarantine. The Inter-departmental Task Force to Enhance RCHs' Capabilities in Epidemic Fight has implemented a series of improvement measures and will continue to review their effectiveness to better protect the health of RCH residents."

     The KTQC has 786 beds in total and 260 of them are ready to come into operation tomorrow. The remaining beds may commence operation at any time depending on the development of the epidemic and the demand.

        

     Regarding a report released by the Office of The Ombudsman (the Ombudsman) today (September 1) on its direct investigation into "Problem of Abandoned Vehicles on Government Land", the Transport Department (TD) response is as follows:

     The TD expresses appreciation for the work of the Ombudsman in the direct investigation, and agrees with the recommendations in the report. The TD has all along been proactively facilitating inter-departmental joint operations to clear abandoned vehicles on public roads and is conducting a legislative amendment exercise with a view to improving the vehicle registration and licensing system. In respect of the recommendations put forward by the Office of The Ombudsman, the TD has embarked on a series of initiatives.

     The Government will amend the Road Traffic (Registration and Licensing of Vehicles) Regulations (Cap. 374E) such that, for vehicles unlicensed for two years, the registered owner will commit an offence if he/she takes no action to renew the vehicle licence; cancel the registration; or obtain an exemption from the Commissioner for Transport. The legislative amendment exercise aims to compel vehicle owners to fulfil their responsibilities and properly dispose of their vehicles. We propose to set the penalty of the offence at a level that is sufficiently high, in order to achieve a strong deterrent effect with due consideration of the highly precious land resources in Hong Kong, which can also reflect the cost that the Government may incur in clearing abandoned vehicles. The TD is consulting the Department of Justice on the legislative amendment exercise (including the penalty level).

     We expect that the legislative amendment proposal can be submitted to the Legislative Council within the year. Subject to the passage of the relevant legislative amendment and the completion of system enhancements, the new arrangement can be implemented in the first half of 2024. The TD will step up publicity to convey to the vehicle owners their obligations as well as the requirements and penalties under the new legislation. Meanwhile, the TD will explore sending reminders through e-contact means to notify vehicle owners that their vehicle licences have expired and that they should properly handle their vehicles in a timely manner in accordance with the legal requirements.

     The TD will assist in the investigation work of the Lands Department (LandsD) and provide the particulars of vehicle owners kept in the register of vehicles to facilitate the LandsD to track down the identity of vehicle owners who are suspected of abandoning their vehicles.

     To strengthen departmental collaboration and jointly formulate procedures for handling abandoned motorcycles in public rear lanes, the Government decided in recent meetings of the District Matters Co-ordination Task Force on tackling hygiene black spots in the territory to extend the scope of the inter-departmental joint operations on abandoned vehicles from public roads to public rear lanes.

     The TD will continue to proactively participate in the inter-departmental joint operations to handle abandoned vehicles on public roads and press ahead with the legislative amendment, so as to address the problem of abandoned vehicles on government land.

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     As at 0.00am today (September 1), a total of 2 627 patients who tested positive for COVID-19 are currently hospitalised for treatment, including 349 new patients. Among the patients staying in isolation facilities, 517 patients are in isolation wards, 171 patients are in second-tier isolation wards, 638 patients are in the North Lantau Hospital Hong Kong Infection Control Centre and 199 patients are in the Treatment Centre for COVID-19 (AsiaWorld-Expo), of which 242 in total are new patients. There are seven newly reported critical patients and 21 newly reported serious patients. There are a total of 48 patients in critical condition and 58 are in serious condition, of which 14 critical patients are receiving intensive care. Moreover, there are 310 patients who have recovered, including 280 patients who have been discharged. In addition, 11 patients who passed away in public hospitals were reported.
 
     In the fifth wave of the epidemic, there are 63 054 patients who have recovered so far, including 62 714 patients who have been discharged. And since early 2020, there are 75 434 patients who have recovered, including 75 094 patients who have been discharged.
 
     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 (DH) today (September 1) announced the latest epidemic situation of COVID-19. As of 0.00am, September 1, the CHP was investigating 10 342 additional locally acquired cases that tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, comprising 3 091 cases that tested positive by nucleic acid tests (1 419 confirmed cases, 1 408 asymptomatic cases and 264 cases with pending status) and 7 251 cases that tested positive by rapid antigen tests (RATs) in the past 24 hours.

     Separately, 244 additional imported cases were reported, including 215 cases that tested positive by nucleic acid tests (30 confirmed cases, 130 asymptomatic cases and 55 cases with pending status) and 29 cases that tested positive by RATs.

     Hong Kong has recorded a total of 890 747 and 660 642 cases that have tested positive by nucleic acid tests and RATs respectively for the SARS-CoV-2 virus so far.

     The CHP is continuing with epidemiological investigations of the cases. Please refer to the "COVID-19 Thematic Website" (www.coronavirus.gov.hk) for more information.

     â€‹Among the specimens received by the DH's Public Health Laboratory Services Branch during August 23 to 29 for verification testing of local cases, about 6.9 per cent and 53.0 per cent of them (seven-day moving average) are related to the sub-lineages BA.2.12.1 and BA.4/BA.5 (including suspected cases) of the Omicron mutant strain respectively.

     In addition, as of 0.00am, September 1, a total of 9 488 death cases that had tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus during the fifth wave (since December 31, 2021) were recorded, with 9 407 and 78 deaths reported from the Hospital Authority and public mortuaries respectively as well as three deaths reported from the Chinese University of Hong Kong Medical Centre. Hong Kong has so far recorded a total of 9 701 death cases that tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

     Furthermore, among the earlier cases by nucleic acid tests reported, there were cases (including pending cases) changed to confirmed, asymptomatic or re-positive cases. As at yesterday (August 31), the total number of confirmed cases was 385 858, while the figures for asymptomatic cases, re-positive cases and pending/unknown cases recorded since January 1 were 262 771, 31 and 238 781 respectively.

     The spokesman for the CHP stressed that the local situation of COVID-19 infection is severe with the number of cases tested positive growing at an increased pace. The CHP strongly appeals to the community to strictly comply with social distancing measures and refrain from participating in unnecessary or crowded activities or mass gatherings. This would lower the risk of infection and prevent the virus from spreading in the community.

     â€‹â€‹The spokesman reminded the public that COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective in preventing severe cases and deaths from the SARS-CoV-2 virus. They can provide effective protection to those vaccinated in preventing serious complications and even death after infection. People who have yet to receive vaccination, especially senior citizens, chronic patients, children, and other immunocompromised persons who face a higher chance of death after COVID-19 infection, should get vaccinated as early as possible for self-protection and to reduce the risk of falling seriously ill and death should they get infected.