Attention duty announcers, radio and TV stations:
 
Please broadcast the following message as soon as possible and repeat it at suitable intervals:
 
     At around 9pm today (December 31), masked rioters occupied roads and set barricades in the vicinity of Nathan Road and Prince Edward Road West, Mong Kok, causing serious disruption to traffic. Police warn rioters to stop all illegal acts. Police will embark on dispersal and arrest operations. Members of the public are advised to avoid travelling to the area concerned and stay tuned to the latest traffic arrangement.
      
     The report room services of Mong Kok Police Station are temporarily suspended. In case of emergency, please dial 999.

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     The Hospital Authority (HA) welcomes staff members to express views on matters related to their work including professional development, working environment and staff welfare, etc. HA also respects staff's right to form union in accordance with prevailing relevant regulations. As a matter of fact, HA regularly communicates with various HA staff unions to discuss and address their concerns towards work-related issues.
 
     Recently, the HA received applications submitted by individual staff members, who are organising a staff union, requesting to set up promotion booths and distribute promotional leaflets at some public hospital premises within short notice.
 
     The hospitals concerned and HA liaised with the applicants seeking to understand the details of the promotion activity, including the objective of the union and the activity being promoted, so as to assess the impact to hospital operations and patient safety in considering the application.
 
     "The HA and public hospitals have established procedures in processing applications for organising activities within hospital premises. And approvals were granted to different staff unions and organisations in the past for gatherings and activities held to express views on work-related matters," the HA spokesperson said.
 
     "The HA is still awaiting the requested details from the organiser and will duly consider the applications upon receiving the required information and reply accordingly," added the spokesperson.

     The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health today (December 31) reported a suspected case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), and again urged the public to pay special attention to safety during travel, taking due consideration of the health risks in the places they visit. The case is detailed below:
 

     "Travellers to the Middle East should avoid going to farms, barns or markets with camels; avoid contact with sick persons and animals, especially camels, birds or poultry; and avoid unnecessary visits to healthcare facilities. We strongly advise travel agents organising tours to the Middle East to abstain from arranging camel rides and activities involving direct contact with camels, which are known risk factors for acquiring MERS Coronavirus (MERS-CoV)," a spokesman for the CHP said.

     Locally, the CHP's surveillance with public and private hospitals, with practising doctors and at boundary control points is firmly in place. Inbound travellers and members of the public who recently visited the Middle East and developed relevant symptoms within 14 days will be classified as suspected MERS cases. They will be taken to public hospitals for isolation and management until their specimens test negative for MERS-CoV.

     Travellers to affected areas should maintain vigilance, adopt appropriate health precautions and take heed of personal, food and environmental hygiene. The public may visit the MERS pages of the CHP and its Travel Health Service, MERS statistics in affected areas, the CHP's Facebook Page and YouTube Channel, and the World Health Organization's latest news for more information and health advice. Tour leaders and tour guides operating overseas tours are advised to refer to the CHP's health advice on MERS. 
 

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     Regarding the announcement of Department of Health (DH) today (December 31) on a cluster of suspected pneumonia cases in the Mainland, the Hospital Authority (HA) is very concerned about the cases and has alerted frontline healthcare staff to stay vigilant. 
 
     The HA spokesperson said that the causative pathogen of the suspected pneumonia cases was yet to be identified. As a precautionary measure, frontline healthcare staff of public hospitals have been reminded to pay special attention to clinical information, including the presentation of fever and acute respiratory illness, or pneumonia, and travel history to Wuhan within 14 days before onset of symptoms.    
 
     The spokesperson also stressed that upon identification of a suspected case, the patient will be isolated in airborne infection isolation room for treatment with urgent laboratory investigation.  The HA will keep close communication with the Centre of Health Protection of the DH to monitor the development of the situation.

     The Labour Department (LD) reminds any person who wishes to operate an employment agency (EA) to be properly licensed before operation or he/she may face prosecution.

     The reminder follows the conviction of a person, who was fined $100,000 at Fanling Magistrates' Courts today (December 31), for managing an EA without a valid licence (in Fanling under the business name Sincere Honest Employment Centre Limited).

     In August 2018, the Employment Agencies Administration (EAA) of the LD received a complaint against the company concerned from an employer seeking to engage a foreign domestic helper. As investigation revealed sufficient evidence that the company had operated an EA without a licence and the complainant was willing to act as prosecution witness, the LD decided to take out prosecution against the company and a responsible person of the company. 

     Sincere Honest Employment Centre Limited was earlier convicted at the Fanling Magistrates’ Courts for operating an EA without a valid licence and was fined $20,000. Today, a responsible person of the company was also convicted of managing the unlicensed EA.

     According to the law, any establishment or person operating a business in Hong Kong for the purpose of obtaining employment for another person or supplying personnel to an employer is subject to the regulation of Part XII of the Employment Ordinance (EO) and the Employment Agency Regulations. Irrespective of the modus operandi or the job types involved, all EAs must obtain a licence issued by the LD before undertaking any EA activities. Except the holder of an EA licence or an associate of the licence holder, no one shall operate, manage or assist in the management of an EA, or else he/she may face prosecution.

     LD reminds EAs to operate in full compliance with the law as well as the Code of Practice for EAs at all times. Failure to do so may lead to prosecution and/or revocation of licence. The Employment (Amendment) Ordinance 2018 enacted on February 9, 2018, has raised the penalty for the offences of unlicensed operation of EAs and overcharging job-seekers commissions to a maximum fine of $350,000 and imprisonment for three years.

     For enquiries or complaints about unlicensed operation or overcharging of commissions by EAs, please call EAA of the LD at 2115 3667 or visit its office at Unit 906, 9/F, One Mong Kok Road Commercial Centre, 1 Mong Kok Road, Kowloon.