In light of positive test results for the COVID-19 virus from sewage samples collected in Kwai Tsing, Kowloon City and Yuen Long Districts, the Home Affairs Department (HAD) said today (May 20) that the Kwai Tsing District Office (K&TDO), the Kowloon City District Office (KCDO) and the Yuen Long District Office (YLDO) have distributed a total of about 91 000 COVID-19 rapid test kits to households, cleansing workers and property management staff living and working in the Districts.

     The K&TDO and the KCDO distributed rapid test kits to households, cleansing workers and property management staff living and working in Ning Fung Court in Kwai Tsing District and Harbourfront Landmark and Laguna Verde (The Greenwood, Villa Verde, Costa Del Sol, Laguna Grande and Ocean Vista) in Kowloon City District for voluntary testing through the property management companies.

     In addition, the YLDO distributed rapid test kits to households, cleansing workers and property management staff living and working in Tin Sam Villa, Sha Chau Lei Tsuen, Casa De Oro, Parkview Garden, Shek Po Tsuen, San Lee Uk Tsuen, Sheffield Villas, Tak Cheung Building and Tak Hing Building for voluntary testing through the property management companies, the owners' corporations, the Rural Committee and the Village Representatives.

     The HAD made the above arrangements in the hope of identifying infected persons early.

     Members of the public may refer to the demonstration video produced by the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) under the Department of Health (DH) via www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzFAUzTtmKk to learn how to use the rapid antigen test (RAT) kit.

     Persons testing positive through an RAT should take a photo of the test result and declare the result within 24 hours via the Declaration System for Individuals Tested Positive for COVID-19 Using Rapid Antigen Test (www.chp.gov.hk/ratp). If members of the public encounter difficulties in using the online platform, they can call the automated system at 183 6119 to register their identification document and telephone number. The CHP under the DH will contact the relevant person later to complete the report procedure. There is no need to declare negative test results.

     The Government appeals for the co-operation of members of the public to safeguard the health of themselves and their families by undergoing testing on a voluntary basis and fighting the virus together. The Government urges all individuals who are in doubt about their own health condition, or individuals with infection risks (such as individuals who have visited places with epidemic outbreaks or had contact with cases that tested positive), to undergo testing promptly for early identification of infected persons to reduce the transmission risks of COVID-19.

      

     The Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr Edward Yau, continued to meet with the Thai business community today (May 20) to promote Hong Kong's business opportunities during his stay in Bangkok, Thailand, for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible for Trade (MRT) Meeting to be held on May 21 and 22.
      
     Mr Yau first met with the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy of Thailand, Mr Supattanapong Punmeechaow, to exchange views on the economic and trade situation in the region. Following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on promotion of technology and innovation development between the two places in 2019, both sides agreed to further strengthen co-operation in the area of technology and innovation. In addition, Hong Kong will hold a bilateral business discussion with the Thailand Board of Investment, and Thailand representatives will attend the Belt and Road Summit to be held in August this year.
      
     Mr Yau then attended a business luncheon to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). More than 100 participants attended the event.
      
     Speaking at the luncheon, he pointed out that Hong Kong enjoys excellent relations with Thailand, with a very close people-to-people bond on both business and personal levels. He shared his insights with the participants on the latest trade and economic developments in Hong Kong, and Hong Kong's important role as a gateway to the Mainland China market for Thai businesses.
       
     Thailand was the fourth largest trading partner of Hong Kong in merchandise trade among all Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states in 2021, with the total value of merchandise trade amounting to about US$20 billion.
      
     In the afternoon, Mr Yau officiated at the opening ceremony of a roving exhibition organised by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Bangkok to mark the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the HKSAR.
      
     At the APEC MRT Meeting tomorrow (May 21), Mr Yau will join a discussion session entitled "Supporting the Multilateral Trading System" with ministers of other member economies. He will also attend the MRT-APEC Business Advisory Council Public-Private Dialogue on the development of the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific in the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, and hold bilateral meetings with other trade ministers to exchange views on issues of mutual interest.

        

     â€‹The Government today (May 20) 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 6pm, under which people (hereafter referred to as "persons subject to compulsory testing") within the specified "restricted area" in Siu Sai Wan (i.e. Ngar Tsui House, Hiu Tsui Court, Siu Sai Wan, 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 (May 21). 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 12am tomorrow. 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 May 14 to 20, 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 May 22, 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.
      
     For the 2022 Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSE) candidates who are within the "restricted area" and need to sit the HKDSE on the following day, or examination personnel who need to take up invigilation duties for HKDSE on the following day, the Government appeals to them to go to the temporary specimen collection stations setup within the "restricted area" before 8pm today and present to the prescribed officer the relevant documents (including the identification documents and HKDSE admission forms, or a certification letter issued by the school of the examination personnel) proving their identities. These HKDSE candidates and examination personnel will be given priority testing with a view to enabling them to obtain test results on the following day as early as possible. The priority testing arrangement also applies to the family members who live together with these HKDSE candidates and examination personnel, so as to identify those HKDSE candidates and examination personnel who have become close contacts of confirmed cases for making quarantine arrangement. 
 
     If any HKDSE candidate or examination personnel needs to leave the "restricted area" for the examination centre before the declaration is revoked, he/she can make a request to the prescribed officers within the "restricted area". The prescribed officer may allow the candidate or the examination personnel to leave the "restricted area" after verifying his/her testing result(s) and recording the relevant information. For the safety of all candidates and examination personnel, only those candidates and examination personnel who have obtained negative test results will be allowed to enter the examination hall. For details, please read the relevant information issued by the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority earlier www.hkeaa.edu.hk/DocLibrary/HKDSE/PPT_2022DSE_compulsory_testing_arrangements_eng.pdf.
 
     The Government will provide food packs for persons subject to compulsory testing, so as to facilitate the meal arrangements 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 6pm 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 Task Force of Supplies from the Mainland led by the Transport and Housing Bureau (THB) 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. In addition to road transport arrangements, transportation of goods by water and railway is already in service.
 
     A spokesperson for the THB 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.
 
     Currently, there are three water transportation routes between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, namely (1) from Shenzhen Yantian International Container Terminals to Hong Kong Kwai Tsing Container Terminals (KTCT); (2) from Shenzhen DaChan Bay Terminals to KTCT; and (3) from China Merchants Port (South China) Management Center (Shenzhen Mawan, Shekou and Chiwan Container Terminals) to Hong Kong River Trade Terminal and elsewhere. Together with the water transportation routes from other cities in Guangdong Province, including the routes from Guangzhou Lianhuashan Port, Nansha Port, Huadu Port, Zhongshan Huangpu Port and Zhuhai Doumen Port to different terminals in Hong Kong, the water transport capacity amounts to tens of thousands of tonnes daily.
 
     The spokesperson said today (May 20) that Shenzhen operated 61 cargo vessel trips and transported around 6 480 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of cross-boundary supplies by water yesterday (May 19), equivalent to about 30 300 tonnes of goods, of which around 20 TEUs (about 160 tonnes) were fresh food and around 6 460 TEUs (about 30 140 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 386 540 TEUs of cross-boundary supplies have been transported, equivalent to about 1 972 140 tonnes of goods, of which around 1 700 TEUs (about 14 580 tonnes) were fresh food and around 384 840 TEUs (about 1 957 560 tonnes) were non-fresh food.
 
     To further ensure a stable goods supply to Hong Kong through land transport, a trial run of cargo transfer was conducted by the THB at a yard situated on Kam Pok Road, San Tin, Yuen Long, and it was completed smoothly. The THB will continue to work with the Mainland authorities to fully take forward cargo transfer arrangements on the Hong Kong side. It is a contingency measure in response to the latest epidemic situation in the city so as to reduce the risk of epidemic transmission in both the Mainland and Hong Kong, ensuring both smooth cross-boundary land transport and a stable goods supply to Hong Kong.
 
     Meanwhile, to avoid a spillover of the epidemic, the Transport Department (TD) has arranged for dedicated staff to conduct rapid antigen tests for cross-boundary goods vehicle drivers at various land boundary control points (BCPs) from February 28 onwards. Only drivers with a negative result are allowed to enter the Mainland. In order to further improve the accuracy of the tests, the TD has already switched to use rapid nucleic acid tests at the BCPs. Starting from April 21, the sampling method for rapid nucleic acid tests has been further changed to nasopharyngeal swabs. A total of 3 113 rapid nucleic acid tests were conducted yesterday in which 20 drivers preliminarily tested positive. The TD has passed the cases to the Department of Health for follow-up.
 
     The THB will closely monitor the situation and co-operate with the Mainland authorities to facilitate and implement various measures to ensure a stable goods supply to Hong Kong, with a view to complementing the supply through road, water and railway transport, enhancing capacity and efficiency as well as optimising the flow of cross-boundary supplies.

     The task force of ensuring medical supplies led by the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau (CEDB) continues to work closely with its Mainland counterparts. Most of the anti-epidemic medical supplies have arrived in Hong Kong in good order and have been distributed to frontline personnel and citizens in need through various channels with a view to stabilising the fifth wave of the epidemic.

     A spokesman for the CEDB said today (May 20) that with the staunch support of the Central Government, over 30 types of medical supplies broadly under five main categories, namely testing, personal protection, disinfection, medication and equipment, procured with the co-ordination of the Central Government, have been received.
    
     The supplies include 260 million rapid antigen test (RAT) kits, over 450 million N95/KN95/surgical/medical masks, around 200 million sets of personal protective equipment (including protective coveralls, protective gowns, goggles, face shields, shoe covers and surgical/examination gloves), and 1.6 million pulse oximeters. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government expresses gratitude to the Central Government for its donation of 600 000 boxes of anti-epidemic proprietary Chinese medicines. All of them have been distributed through the Food and Health Bureau to residents subject to "restriction-testing declarations", and through the Hospital Authority to confirmed patients in isolation facilities and those receiving treatment at 18 Chinese medicine clinics.
    
     The task force had earlier provided the Home Affairs Department with over 70 million RAT kits and KN95 masks respectively for distribution to households in Hong Kong via over 3 million anti-epidemic service bags. Millions of additional RAT kits were also made available for collection by people in need at anti-epidemic service bag distribution points. The service bags distributed also included over 7 million boxes of anti-epidemic proprietary Chinese medicines procured with the co-ordination of the Central Government. Meanwhile, following the resumption of classes in kindergartens and primary and secondary schools in phases, all students and teaching staff are required to conduct an RAT before returning to school every day. The task force has distributed 10 million RAT kits to schools via the Education Bureau for use by financially needy students.
    
     The remaining supplies will continue to be distributed to frontline personnel of anti-epidemic work, persons with higher infection risks (such as residents subject to "restriction-testing declarations" or living in areas testing positive under sewage tracing) and people working in high-risk industries (such as cross-boundary goods vehicle drivers, property management staff, cleaning staff and staff of residential care homes for the elderly) through multiple channels. Relevant supplies are being provided daily to confirmed patients and their close contacts and family members in the form of anti-epidemic kits.
    
     The rest of the medical supplies, such as RAT kits and high-grade protective masks in higher demand, are centrally managed and stored by the Government Logistics Department for use and regular withdrawal by relevant departments to meet their demands in the coming months. The task force will continue to review the situation and adjust in a timely manner the procurement of medical supplies according to the Government's anti-epidemic policies and measures.