The Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, visited the Civil Aid Service (CAS) Headquarters in Yau Ma Tei this afternoon (March 11) to thank members of the CAS for assisting in the setting up and management of the quarantine centres to protect people's health. She also visited a Chinese medicine clinic of the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals (TWGHs) in the same district to distribute face masks and other anti-epidemic supplies to members of the public including the elderly.
Accompanied by the Commissioner of the CAS, Mr Lo Yan-lai, Mrs Lam visited the CAS Headquarters and met with about 50 CAS members who have participated in setting up and managing the quarantine centres. Mrs Lam said that with the increase in the number of people in quarantine centres, the workload of the CAS in managing the quarantine centres is also growing. She expressed her gratitude to the CAS members for their hard work to provide necessary support for people under quarantine, adding that CAS members have been standing steadfast at posts in the front-line of anti-epidemic work, fulfilling their pledge of "Provide Emergency Relief, Serve the Community" and making significant contributions to public health.
The CAS is an auxiliary emergency force financed by the Government to augment the regular front-line emergency forces in the event of natural disasters and other emergencies as well as provide various community services. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the CAS has assisted in the setting up and management of the quarantine centres and has performed round-the-clock duties at the quarantine centres to assist in collecting, arranging and delivering meals and daily necessities for people under quarantine, and has conducted patrols in the quarantine centres to maintain order. Together with the support personnel at the headquarters, there are currently more than 280 CAS personnel on duty every day to support the three quarantine centres at Chun Yeung Estate, Heritage Lodge of the Jao Tsung-I Academy and Lei Yue Mun Park and Holiday Village. Mrs Lam visited the quarantine centres at Heritage Lodge of the Jao Tsung-I Academy and Chun Yeung Estate earlier to encourage the CAS personnel.
Accompanied by the Chairman of the TWGHs Board of Directors 2019-20, Dr Ken Tsoi, Mrs Lam visited Kwong Wah Hospital – The Chinese University of Hong Kong Chinese Medicine Clinical Research and Services Centre. Extending her warmest regards to the elderly people and other members of the public in the centre, Mrs Lam distributed anti-epidemic kits with face masks to them. She thanked the TWGHs for its commitment to serving the community, providing the public with quality and affordable Chinese medicine services and promoting the modernisation and scientific advancement of Chinese medicine.
The Chief Executive earlier decided to pass all face masks donated by the Ng Teng Fong Charitable Foundation and other organisations and persons to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government to non-governmental organisations (NGOs) so that they can distribute them to underprivileged groups. The move is aimed at sharing the relatively scarce resources with the community to fight the disease together. The TWGHs is one of the NGOs assisting the Government to distribute the face masks.
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