CE’s Office expresses regret on individual misleading media reports

     A spokesman for the Chief Executive's Office today (August 1) expressed regret over misleading reports by individual media organisations on the communication between the Chief Executive and members of the government anti-epidemic expert advisory group.

     At the press conference yesterday (July 31), the Chief Executive explained in details the grounds for the postponement of the 2020 Legislative Council General Election. In addressing the questions raised by the media, the Chief Executive again explained the interaction and tacit understanding between the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government and its expert advisers developed in the past seven months over anti-epidemic work, noting that each anti-epidemic measure was rolled out by the Government after thorough consideration of all relevant factors. She also said clearly that she had not discussed the postponement of the election with any of the government expert advisers. All the expert opinions quoted by the Chief Executive at the press conference were related to the epidemic, including the concerns by one of the experts about the current situation given the large proportion of confirmed cases with unknown infection sources and the inadequacy in contact tracing. The Chief Executive's Office expressed regret over individual groundless media reports which attempted to mislead readers into believing that the views on elections quoted by the Chief Executive originated from the experts. To avoid unnecessary misunderstanding, the Chief Executive took the initiative to clarify with the four experts attending the anti-epidemic expert advisory group meeting this afternoon.

     The Chief Executive's Office stressed that amid the present severe epidemic, various sectors in the community should unite together to fight the disease. Any person who attempts to create division in society runs counter to the goal of combatting the virus together.