The Task Force on Supplies from the Mainland led by the Transport and Logistics Bureau (TLB) has been working closely with the Guangdong Provincial Government and the Shenzhen Municipal People's Government to explore various means to stabilise the supply of goods from the Mainland to Hong Kong.
 
     A spokesperson for the TLB said that the "Sea Express" water transportation service from the Mainland to Hong Kong has been fully launched and its capacity is rising to increase the supplies of fresh food, other daily necessities and manufacturing materials. The current supply of fresh food from the Mainland is stable.
 
     The spokesperson said today (July 15) that Shenzhen operated 49 cargo vessel trips and transported around 3 890 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of cross-boundary supplies by water yesterday (July 14), equivalent to about 23 250 tonnes of goods, of which around 10 TEUs (about 30 tonnes) were fresh food and around 3 880 TEUs (about 23 220 tonnes) were non-fresh food, according to information from the Mainland authorities.
 
     Since the launch of services from the three ports in Shenzhen since February 18 to yesterday, a total of around 669 090 TEUs of cross-boundary supplies have been transported, equivalent to about 3 263 310 tonnes of goods, of which around 2 100 TEUs (about 17 910 tonnes) were fresh food and around 666 990 TEUs (about 3 245 400 tonnes) were non-fresh food.
 
     Meanwhile, to avoid a spillover of the epidemic, the Transport Department (TD) arranges for dedicated staff to conduct rapid nucleic acid tests, using nasopharyngeal swabs for specimen collection, for cross-boundary goods vehicle drivers at various land boundary control points. Only drivers with a negative result are allowed to enter the Mainland. A total of 3 969 rapid nucleic acid tests were conducted yesterday, among which six cases that tested preliminarily positive or indeterminate were found. The TD has passed the cases to the Department of Health for follow-up.
 
     The TLB will closely monitor the situation and co-operate with the Mainland authorities to facilitate and implement various measures to ensure both smooth cross-boundary land transport and a stable goods supply to Hong Kong, while reducing the risk of epidemic transmission in both the Mainland and Hong Kong.

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     The spokesperson for Kwong Wah Hospital gave the following update today (July 15) on a patient who left the hospital without prior notification yesterday (July 14):

     The 22-year-old male patient who left the hospital without prior notification yesterday contacted the hospital at noon today. The hospital will continue to follow up on the medical needs of the patient.

     The Department of Health (DH) today (July 15) participated in the 1st National Conference of Traditional Chinese Medicines Scientific Supervision (Conference) to discuss the scientific regulation and development of Chinese medicines.
      
     The Conference was held under the guidance of the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) from July 14 to 15 in Beijing, with participants taking part in person or online. The conference aims to build an exchange platform on Chinese medicines regulation and promote high-quality development of Chinese medicines. The event featured sub-forums for exchanging views and discussing issues such as the development, evaluation and approval of novel Chinese medicines, regulation of Chinese medicines in terms of quality and safety, and scientific regulation and international harmonisation in relation to traditional medicines.
      
     In his video speech at the Sub-forum on Scientific Regulation and International Harmonisation in Relation to Traditional Medicines, the Director of Health, Dr Ronald Lam, expressed his gratitude to the NMPA for enabling the convening of the Conference, further bringing about the reform of Chinese medicines' evaluation and approval system, and contributing to the high-quality development of Chinese medicines. The DH was also invited to deliver a keynote address on the regulation of Chinese medicine and progress in enhancing the safety and quality of Chinese medicines in Hong Kong at the same sub-forum.
      
     "During the COVID-19 epidemic, Chinese medicine has been demonstrating its strong effectiveness in epidemic prevention, treatment and rehabilitation, and has laid the foundations for overcoming COVID-19 in our country. To this end, Hong Kong needs to further enhance and refine the regulatory system to ensure the safe use, quality and efficacy of Chinese medicines," Dr Lam said.  
      
     Dr Lam added that with the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Hong Kong will focus on giving full play to the advantages of the Government Chinese Medicines Testing Institute to promote the inheritance, innovation and development of Chinese medicines, and to push forward talent nurturing and technology transfers, in order to allow "modernised Chinese medicines" to take root in the Greater Bay Area, and to promote Chinese medicines to "go global".
      
     The Conference, as a valuable exchange platform for the modernatisation of Chinese medicines regulation, would facilitate co-operation and exchanges between the Mainland and Hong Kong comprehensively, and Hong Kong's active integration into the overall national development. The DH will continue to implement regulatory measures for Chinese medicines, and promote the inheritance and innovative development of Chinese medicines in Hong Kong through the testing and scientific research of the Government Chinese Medicines Testing Institute. With the staunch support of the motherland, Hong Kong will give full play to its unique advantages and perform its role as an important bridge and window of Mainland China to the rest of the world to further promote Chinese medicines overseas.
      
     Representatives from relevant regulatory authorities of the Mainland, Hong Kong, Macao, Japan, Thailand, the United States and European Union countries, and the World Health Organization, as well as experts from related research institutions participated in the Sub-forum on Scientific Regulation and International Harmonisation in Relation to Traditional Medicines to share their experiences.

     â€‹The Government today (July 15) exercised the power under the Prevention and Control of Disease (Compulsory Testing for Certain Persons) Regulation (Cap. 599J) to make a "restriction-testing declaration" (declaration) effective from 5.30pm, under which people (hereafter referred to as "persons subject to compulsory testing") within the specified "restricted area" in Tai Po (i.e. Chung Chun House, Chung Nga Court, Tai Po, excluding the non-domestic units on G/F, see Annex.) are required to stay in their premises and undergo compulsory testing. Persons subject to compulsory testing are required to stay in their premises until all such persons identified in the "restricted area" have undergone testing and the test results are mostly ascertained. The Government aims at finishing this exercise at around 9.30am tomorrow (July 16). The operation may be extended depending on test results.
 
     A Government spokesman said, "Under Cap. 599J, the Government can, according to the needs of infection control, make a 'restriction-testing declaration'. Having reviewed a basket of factors, including the viral load in sewage, the information of relevant positive cases, and other circumstantial factors, and conducted a risk assessment, the Government decided to make a 'restriction-testing declaration' for the relevant area."
 
     The Government will set up temporary specimen collection stations at the "restricted area" and request persons subject to compulsory testing to undergo testing before 11.30pm today. Arrangements will be made for persons subject to compulsory testing to undergo a nucleic acid test at specimen collection stations where dedicated staff will collect samples through combined nasal and throat swabs. Persons subject to compulsory testing must stay at their place of residence until all test results are ascertained to avoid cross-infection risk. The Government will make arrangement to facilitate specimen collection for people with impaired mobility. All persons in the "restricted area" who have tested positive in the past 14 days, including positive cases identified either by nucleic acid tests recorded by the Department of Health (DH) or by rapid antigen tests that have been self-declared to the DH, are not required to undergo testing in this compulsory testing exercise.
 
     The Government spokesman said, "We understand that this exercise will cause inconvenience to the public. The Government has made arrangements to carry out testing for all persons present in the 'restricted area' as soon as possible. The aim is to strive to complete testing of all identified persons subject to compulsory testing and confirm the results, and finish the exercise at around 9.30am tomorrow. The Government will make a public announcement when the declaration expires officially. In the cases in which employees are unable to go to work because of the declaration, the Government hopes their employers can exercise discretion and not deduct the salaries or benefits of the employees."
 
     If staying in the "restricted area" will cause unreasonable hardship to individuals who are not residents in the area when the declaration takes effect, government officers may exercise discretion and allow that person to leave the area after considering the individual circumstances. That person must have followed the instructions to undergo testing and leave his/her personal information for contact purposes.
 
     According to the compulsory testing notice to be issued today, any persons other than those specified above who had been present at the above building for more than two hours from July 9 to July 15, 2022, even if they were not present in the "restricted area" at the time when the declaration took effect, must undergo compulsory testing on or before July 17, 2022. As a mutant strain is involved, for prudence's sake, vaccinated persons and persons who have recently been tested are also required to undergo testing.
 
     The Government will provide food packs and necessity packs for persons subject to compulsory testing, so as to facilitate the meal arrangements and daily needs of some persons subject to compulsory testing. In addition, the Home Affairs Department has set up a hotline (Tel: 2835 1473) which starts operation at 5.30pm today for residents restricted by the declaration to make enquiries and seek assistance. The Social Welfare Department will also provide assistance to the affected persons.
 
     The Government appeals to persons subject to compulsory testing for their full co-operation by registering and undergoing testing, and waiting for the results patiently at home. The Government will strictly follow up on whether the persons concerned have complied with the compulsory testing notices and "restriction-testing declaration". Any person who fails to comply with the compulsory testing notices commits an offence and may be fined a fixed penalty of $10,000. The person would also be issued with a compulsory testing order requiring him or her to undergo testing within a specified time frame. Failure to comply with the compulsory testing order or the "restriction-testing declaration" is an offence and the offender would be liable to a fine at level 5 ($50,000) and imprisonment for six months.

     The Lands Department (LandsD) announced today (July 15) that it registered 25 lease modifications, two land exchanges and one lot extension in the Land Registry during the quarter ending June 2022, of which 15 were modifications of a technical nature involving nil premium.
     
     Among these 28 land transactions, 14 are located on Hong Kong Island, nine are in Kowloon and five are in the New Territories. The transactions exclude Small House cases.
     
     A further five lots were granted by private treaty during the period. One was granted to the Hong Kong Housing Society for residential development off Anderson Road; three were granted to the Urban Renewal Authority for residential developments in Tai Kok Tsui and To Kwa Wan; and the other one was granted for an offshore liquefied natural gas terminal in Hong Kong waters, off Soko Islands.
     
     The above land transactions realised a total land premium of about $3,814.204 million.
     
     Transaction records of the lease modifications, land exchanges, private treaty grants and lot extensions, including those registered recently, are uploaded to the LandsD website (www.landsd.gov.hk) on a monthly basis. Details of the transactions may be obtained by searching the registered documents in the Land Registry.