Author Archives: hksar gov

     â€‹The Government today (February 2) 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 7pm, under which people (hereafter referred to as “persons subject to compulsory testing”) within the specified “restricted area” in Kwai Chung (i.e. Yam Yue House, Shek Yam East Estate, Kwai Chung, 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 about 7am tomorrow (February 3).

     A Government spokesman said, “Under Cap. 599J, the Government can, according to the needs of infection control, make a ‘restriction-testing declaration’. As a positive case and several preliminary tested positive cases who have lived in the abovementioned building detected recently may involve mutant strain, the risk of infection in the relevant area is assessed to be likely higher, so the Government decided to make a ‘restriction-testing declaration’ for the relevant area.”   

     The Government has set up temporary specimen collection stations at the “restricted area” and requested persons subject to compulsory testing to undergo testing before 12am tomorrow. Arrangements have been 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 arrange for door-to-door specimen collection for people with impaired mobility.

     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 7am 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 person who had been present at the above building for more than two hours from February 1, 2022 to February 2, 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 February 4, 2022. As a mutant strain may be involved, and having considered relevant infection risks, for prudence’s sake, vaccinated persons and persons who have recently been tested are also required to undergo testing.
          
     In addition, in accordance with the latest arrangement, persons who resided in the same building as the case carrying variants of concern are required to undergo compulsory testing on days 2, 3, 4, and 7 counting from the day subsequent to that when the relevant confirmed case last stayed in that building before being admitted to hospital for treatment or leaving Hong Kong.

     The Housing Department has set up a hotline (Tel: 2424 2942) which has started operation at 7pm 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 $5,000. 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 4 ($25,000) and imprisonment for six months. read more

     The Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, today (February 2) visited Kennedy Town, a laboratory at The University of Hong Kong (HKU) and Kwun Tong Community Centre to meet with anti-epidemic personnel during the Lunar New Year and extend her New Year greetings to them. She also took the opportunity to inspect the site where the HKU planned to construct facilities for technology research.
      
     Accompanied by the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Wong Kam-sing, and the Director of Drainage Services, Ms Alice Pang, Mrs Lam visited a stationary site of sewage sampling in Kennedy Town this morning to learn about the latest situation of on-site sampling under the co-operation between the relevant Government departments and contractors. She noted that the Drainage Services Department (DSD) had been preparing to fight the epidemic over the past year through making continuous improvements to the sampling methods and equipment used and increasing significantly the coverage by stationary sampling points. Before the fifth wave of the epidemic emerged, over 100 stationary points of surveillance, covering a population of some five million people, had been set up; and since the outbreak of this new wave, the DSD and the Environmental Protection Department had also been conducting tests through temporary mobile points to collect more sewage samples upstream so as to strengthen the tracing of invisible transmission chains in the community.
      
     Mrs Lam and the officials then visited the Environmental Microbiome Engineering and Biotechnology Laboratory of the HKU. Accompanied by the President and Vice-Chancellor of the HKU, Professor Zhang Xiang, they received a briefing from the team led by Professor Zhang Tong on the treatment of sewage samples and testing process, as well as the ways to analyse the positive results therefrom, so as to help the Government zero in on places for imposing “restriction-testing declarations”, issuing compulsory testing notices, distributing rapid test kits, etc, having regard to the risk level of the districts concerned. This sought to identify infection cases early and prevent the virus from spreading in the community. A case in point took place in Wong Tai Sin in late January. Positive results were detected at the stationary point of sewage surveillance in the district on January 18. After a few days of targeted testing through mobile points of surveillance, the positive results were traced down to the sewage of Tropicana Gardens and Hsin Kuang Centre. On this basis, the Government swiftly conducted compulsory testing and “restriction-testing declaration” operations alike, identifying eight and one confirmed cases involving Delta respectively in the buildings concerned. Laboratory testing sought not only to identify positive results from sewage surveillance, but also to ascertain if the virus belonged to the Omicron or Delta variant through genetic sequencing, thereby facilitating follow-up by the Centre for Health Protection.
      
     Mrs Lam was grateful to the relevant Government departments, the HKU team, sampling contractors, etc, for working closely together to arrange for sewage sampling at various points in different districts across the territory within a very short period of time and then deliver the samples to laboratories for virus testing, striving to have the test results within the same day to assist the Government in tracing the possible infection cases in the community early. She encouraged all the personnel participating in the various aspects of sewage surveillance to keep up their hard work, including stepping up the frequency of surveillance and capacity of daily testing, so as to expedite the tracing of patients in invisible cases.
      
     Accompanied by Professor Zhang Xiang, Mrs Lam took the opportunity to inspect the site in Pok Fu Lam where the HKU planned to construct facilities for technology research and learn about the progress of the project. She announced in her 2021 Policy Address in October last year that the Government had accepted in principle the proposal of the HKU to reserve a four-hectare site currently zoned “Green Belt” in Pok Fu Lam to construct facilities for technology research to consolidate Hong Kong’s leading position in basic research. She hoped that the project would help the HKU further strengthen its research capability and attract more international talents, promoting the development of technology research in Hong Kong.
      
     Afterwards, accompanied by the Acting Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Jack Chan, the Permanent Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Joe Wong, and the Acting Director of Home Affairs, Miss Vega Wong, Mrs Lam visited Kwun Tong Community Centre to meet with more than 100 volunteers who assisted in packing the COVID-19 rapid test kits. She expressed her gratitude to Kwun Tong District Office and the various district service organisations, as well as the volunteers mobilised by them, for carrying out the packaging work during the festive season. Their participation contributed to the Government’s efforts to distribute rapid test kits to members of the public for self-testing in districts with positive test results from sewage surveillance, so that infected persons could be identified as soon as possible.
      
     To combat the fifth wave of the epidemic, the district offices under the Home Affairs Department have been stepping up co-ordination with various district service organisations to mobilise thousands of volunteers to assist in packaging and distribute more than 500 000 sets of rapid test kits to the households, cleansing workers, property management staff, etc, in the relevant districts so far.
      
     “Hong Kong is the first city in the world to adopt large-scale sewage surveillance in tandem with compulsory testing to trace infection cases with success. This is also testimony to the effective combination of achievements in technology research with real-life application. In the face of the risks posed by the highly transmissible variants amid the fifth wave of the epidemic, the Government is racking up and distributing rapid test kits to the residents and those working in the districts who have been exposed to infection risks to undergo testing on a voluntary basis to achieve ‘early identification, early isolation and early treatment’,” said Mrs Lam. “I am grateful to all the teams and members for their hard work in combating the epidemic on various fronts, as well as the colleagues and volunteers who continue to fight the virus during the Lunar New Year. I hope that all of us will stay confident and strive ahead in concert so as to ride out of this wave of the epidemic early.”

            

     The Civil Service Bureau (CSB) today (February 2) said that an Assistant Clerical Officer who works on the seventh floor of West Wing of the Central Government Offices in Tamar has tested positive for COVID-19. She is staying at a hospital for treatment.

     The officer concerned is responsible for internal clerical work without the need to have contacts with the public recently and she had no recent travel history. She wore masks and followed relevant disease prevention measures at work. She last performed duties on January 31. She accompanied a family member to a hospital for treatment in the evening of January 31. Both received testing for the virus and were confirmed as having COVID-19 today. The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) is following up the case.

     The CSB has completed thorough cleaning and sterilisation on the floor concerned in accordance with the CHP’s advice, and is arranging all staff members working on the same floor to undergo COVID-19 test.

     The CSB has been strictly implementing disease prevention measures during the epidemic and will continue to maintain close liaison with the CHP. Staff members are reminded to pay attention to personal hygiene and to stay vigilant. They should seek medical advice immediately if feeling unwell. read more

     The Government today (February 2) 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 7pm, under which people (hereafter referred to as “persons subject to compulsory testing”) within the specified “restricted area” in Tai Po (i.e. Tsui Wo House, Tai Wo Estate, Tai Po. 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 about 7am tomorrow (February 3).
           
     A Government spokesman said, “Under Cap. 599J, the Government can, according to the needs of infection control, make a ‘restriction-testing declaration’. As some cases tested preliminarily positive who have lived in the abovementioned building were detected recently, and the preliminary test results involved mutant strain, the risk of infection in the relevant area is assessed to be likely higher, so 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 tonight. 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 arrange for door-to-door specimen collection for people with impaired mobility and elderly persons.
      
     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 7am 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 person who had been present at the above building for more than two hours from January 29, 2022 to February 2, 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 February 4, 2022. As a mutant strain is involved, and having considered relevant infection risks, for prudence’s sake, vaccinated persons and persons who have recently been tested are also required to undergo testing.
      
     In addition, in accordance with the latest arrangement, persons who resided in the same building as the case involving a mutant strain are required to undergo compulsory testing on days 2, 3, 4 and 7 counting from the day subsequent to that when the case last stayed in that building before being admitted to hospital for treatment or leaving Hong Kong.
      
     The Home Affairs Department has set up a hotline (Tel: 2835 1473) which starts operation at 7pm tonight 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 $5,000. 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 4 ($25,000) and imprisonment for six months. read more

     In the light of the positive test results for the COVID-19 virus from some sewage samples collected in Sewage Testing Areas Sha Tin Site 7A (Sha Tin Site) and Tuen Mun Sites 3 and 5A (Tuen Mun Sites) (See Annex), the Home Affairs Department (including the Sha Tin District Office (STDO) and the Tuen Mun District Office (TMDO)) today (February 2) started to distribute a total of about 20 000 COVID-19 rapid test kits to households, cleansing workers and property management staff within the abovementioned sites of Sewage Testing Areas.
 
     The STDO today distributed a total of around 15 000 rapid test kits to households living within the Sha Tin Site through property management companies and building organisations. The TMDO, together with the Housing Department, also started to distribute about 5 000 rapid test kits to cleansing workers and property management staff working within the Tuen Mun Sites through property management companies today, in the hope of identifying infected persons early, so as to better protect the infected persons and their families. However, the Government stresses that rapid test kit testing is not a substitute for the Government’s compulsory testing requirement.

     For more information on the use of the rapid test kits, residents may refer to the following link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjLzD3-gab4

     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 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.