Judiciary backend support staff tested positive for COVID-19

The following is issued on behalf of the Judiciary:

     The Judiciary today (December 13) said a staff member responsible for backend support duties at the District Court (DC) was tested positive for COVID-19.

     The relevant staff member does not need to be in contact with court users. She felt unwell and sought medical advice last Wednesday (December 9) and was tested positive last night (December 12). The last time she worked in court premises was December 7.

     For the sake of prudence, the Judiciary had immediately arranged cleansing and disinfection of the court premises, including relevant offices and public areas. The relevant cleansing work had been completed.

     The Judiciary has so far not been notified by the Centre for Health Protection that any person or Judiciary staff is regarded as a close contact of the relevant staff.

     The Judiciary has enhanced the current social distancing measures since December 7, including adjustment to court proceedings and reduction of opening hours of registries and accounts offices at all levels of courts. Parties, legal representatives and court users who are subject to any quarantine requirement, medical surveillance or compulsory testing while waiting for test results; and/or who are preliminarily tested positive or tested positive for COVID-19 are not allowed to enter Judiciary premises.

     The Judiciary will continue to strictly enforce appropriate preventive and crowd management measures and continue to implement enhanced cleansing and disinfection of public areas, requiring all people entering the Judiciary premises to undergo body temperature checks and wear surgical masks at all times unless otherwise directed by the judge, and putting in place other appropriate crowd management arrangements to regulate the people flow and avoid crowding.

     To provide further information to the public, details of confirmed or preliminary positive cases of COVID-19 involving staff working on Judiciary premises and court users who have stayed in the court areas for relatively long hours in the past 14 days have been uploaded to the Judiciary website (www.judiciary.hk) for reference.