Tag Archives: China

     The Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Lau Kong-wah, visited Yau Tsim Mong District this afternoon (June 11) to call on cultural and sports associations and inspect works projects in the district. He also exchanged views with Yau Tsim Mong District Council (YTMDC) members.
           
     Accompanied by the Chairman of the YTMDC, Mr Chris Ip, and the District Officer (Yau Tsim Mong), Mrs Laura Aron, Mr Lau first visited the Yau Ma Tei and Tsim Sha Tsui Culture and Arts Association to learn about its services and admire its members’ paintings and calligraphy. Established in 1981, the association aims to promote culture and arts development by organising various cultural activities, helping to bring arts into the community.
           
     Mr Lau then visited the site for the Hoi Ting Road Joint User Complex in Tai Kok Tsui, and was briefed by representatives from the Leisure and Cultural Services Department on the design of the complex and the progress of the project. The complex will have various facilities including a sports centre, swimming pools and a community hall.
           
     Mr Lau then toured the Soy Street pedestrian subway to inspect the mini-block pictures and wall sticker beautification work at the entrances of the subway. The mini-block pictures are the winning entries of a subway beautification competition, which aimed to promote the signature project Yau Tsim Mong Multicultural Activity Centre of the district. The wall sticker beautification work is a district minor works project of the district.
      
     Mr Lau then visited the Mong Kok District Cultural, Recreational and Sports Association Lim Por Yen Centre. He toured the facilities in the centre and met with the Youth Health Ambassadors of the Yau Tsim Mong Healthy City Executive Committee.
           
     Before concluding his visit, Mr Lau met with YTMDC members to exchange views on district issues.

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The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:

     The Legislative Council (LegCo) will hold a meeting on Wednesday (June 13) at 11.30 am (or immediately after the meeting for the Chief Executive’s Question Time to be held at 11am) in the Chamber of the LegCo Complex. During the meeting, Members will continue to consider the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link (Co-location) Bill. If the Bill is supported by Members and receives its Second Reading, it will stand committed to the committee of the whole Council. After the committee of the whole Council has completed consideration of the Bill and its report is adopted by the Council, the Bill will be set down for the Third Reading.

     The Inland Revenue (Amendment) (No. 5) Bill 2018 will be introduced into the Council for the First Reading and the Second Reading. The Second Reading debate on the Bill will be adjourned.

     On Members’ motions, Mr Leung Che-cheung will move a motion on cross-boundary elderly care. The motion states: “That, all along, quite a number of elderly persons in Hong Kong have chosen to spend their twilight years on the Mainland, but the current cross-boundary portability arrangements for welfare benefits made by the SAR Government have a very narrow scope, benefiting only eligible elderly persons who are receiving the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance payments or the Old Age Allowance and have moved to reside in Guangdong or Fujian Province on the Mainland; to facilitate more elderly persons in spending their twilight years on the Mainland, this Council urges the SAR Government to:

(1) extend the arrangements of the Guangdong Scheme and the Fujian Scheme to other provinces on the Mainland;

(2) introduce cross-boundary portability arrangements for the Old Age Living Allowance to support eligible elderly persons who are receiving the allowance and have moved to the Mainland;

(3) abolish the existing absence limit for various welfare benefits under the Social Security Allowance Scheme, and conduct a study on developing an identity verification system with the relevant Mainland departments to obviate the need for elderly persons who have moved to the Mainland to return to Hong Kong for making applications for continuous collection of such benefits on a yearly basis;

(4) introduce cross-boundary portability arrangements for the Disability Allowance such that eligible elderly persons with disabilities aged 65 or above can choose to reside on the Mainland;

(5) optimise the existing Pilot Residential Care Services Scheme in Guangdong by, for example, purchasing residential care places for persons with disabilities from Mainland residential care homes, and purchasing more quality residential care places for the elderly in various major cities on the Mainland, as well as providing needy elderly persons who choose to reside on the Mainland with one-stop escort arrangements for travelling to and from Hong Kong;

(6) conduct a study on the implementation of a scheme for the transfer of medical records of Hong Kong residents under which, with the consent of the elderly persons who have moved to the Mainland, their medical records will be transferred to designated Mainland hospitals so that they can seek medical consultation conveniently;

(7) conduct a study on extending the scope of application of Hong Kong’s Health Care Vouchers to cover major hospitals and clinics on the Mainland, with a view to alleviating the burden of medical expenses on elderly persons who have moved to the Mainland;

(8) by drawing reference from the model of the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital, co-establish hospitals in major Mainland cities by Hong Kong and the Mainland and adopt Hong Kong-style management to jointly provide quality healthcare services to elderly persons who have moved to the Mainland; and

(9) by drawing reference from the Pilot Scheme on Community Care Service Voucher for the Elderly, conduct a study on providing elderly persons who have moved to the Mainland with support services for ageing in place.”

     Dr Priscilla Leung, Mr Wong Kwok-kin and Mr Alvin Yeung will move separate amendments to Mr Leung Che-cheung’s motion.

     Mr Ma Fung-kwok will move a motion on developing venues and creating room to support the development of local culture, arts, recreation and sports. The motion states: “That the lack of venues and room has all along been plaguing local cultural, arts and sports groups, and it is also an important barrier to the development of local culture, recreation and sports; in this connection, this Council urges the Government to take every possible means to create more venues and room for the local cultural, arts and sports sector, so as to promote further development of local culture, arts and sports; the relevant measures include:

(1) building more cultural venues and sports facilities, and expeditiously implementing the outstanding leisure and cultural services projects of the former municipal councils;

(2) reviewing the policy on industrial buildings and updating the definition of ‘use of industrial buildings’, so that cultural, arts and sports groups can operate in industrial buildings in a sensible, reasonable and lawful manner, and ensuring that future policies proposed on revitalising industrial buildings will be able to cater to the development needs of such groups and safeguard their room for survival;

(3) making better use of vacant school premises and vacant sites for cultural, arts or sports purposes;

(4) opening up more public spaces for cultural and arts purposes;

(5) enhancing the Opening up School Facilities for Promotion of Sports Development Scheme, including providing more assistance to schools that open up their school facilities, and extending the scheme to make it accessible by cultural and arts groups;

(6) enhancing the leasing policy for government venues to make such venues available for full utilisation by cultural, arts and sports groups, and curbing the recurrence of touting activities; and

(7) stipulating in the land lease covenants of suitable new development projects that developers should set aside space to develop certain cultural and arts facilities that have been compressed by market and business factors, such as performance venues and bookshops.”

     Mrs Regina Ip, Ms Tanya Chan, Mr Lau Kwok-fan and Mr Au Nok-hin will move separate amendments to Mr Ma Fung-kwok’s motion.

     Meanwhile, Mr Dennis Kwok, Dr Kwok Ka-ki, Mr Cheung Kwok-kwan, Mr Holden Chow and Mr Charles Mok will each move a proposed resolution under section 34(4) of the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance.

     Mr Dennis Kwok will move a proposed resolution to extend the period for amending the Practising Certificate (Solicitors) (Amendment) Rules 2018, laid on the table of the Council on May 16, 2018, to the meeting of July 4, 2018.

     Dr Kwok Ka-ki will move a proposed resolution to extend the period for amending the Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 2) Order 2018, laid on the table of the Council on May 16, 2018, to the meeting of July 4, 2018.

     Mr Cheung Kwok-kwan will move a proposed resolution to extend the period for amending the Securities and Futures (Amendment) Ordinance 2016 (Commencement) Notice, the Securities and Futures (Open-ended Fund Companies) Rules and the Securities and Futures (Open-ended Fund Companies) (Fees) Regulation, laid on the table of the Council on May 23, 2018, to the meeting of July 11, 2018.

     Mr Holden Chow will move a proposed resolution to extend the period for amending the Securities and Futures (Professional Investor) (Amendment) Rules 2018, laid on the table of the Council on May 23, 2018, to the meeting of July 11, 2018.

     Mr Charles Mok will move a proposed resolution to extend the period for amending the Telecommunications (Designation of Frequency Bands subject to Payment of Spectrum Utilization Fee) (Amendment) Order 2018, the Telecommunications (Level of Spectrum Utilization Fees) (Second Generation Mobile Services) (Amendment) Regulation 2018, the Telecommunications (Determining Spectrum Utilization Fees by Auction) (Amendment) Regulation 2018 and the Telecommunications (Method for Determining Spectrum Utilization Fee) (Administratively Assigned Spectrum in the 1800 MHz Band) Regulation, laid on the table of the Council on May 23, 2018, to the meeting of July 11, 2018.

     Members will also ask the Government 22 questions on various policy areas, six of which require oral replies.

     The agenda of the above meeting can be obtained via the LegCo Website (www.legco.gov.hk). Please note that the agenda is subject to change, and the latest information about the agenda could be found on the LegCo Website.

     Members of the public are welcome to observe the proceedings of the meeting from the public galleries of the Chamber of the LegCo Complex. They may reserve seats by calling 3919 3399 during office hours. Members of the public can also watch or listen to the meeting via the “Webcast” system on the LegCo Website. read more

The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:      The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) wishes to alert members of the public to a press release issued by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limite… read more

The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:      The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) wishes to alert members of the public to a press release issued by DBS (Hong Kong) Limited on fraudulent website,… read more

     The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health is today (June 11) investigating an outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) in a kindergarten in Yau Tsim Mong District, and again urged the public, schools and institutions to maintain strict hand, personal and environmental hygiene.

     The outbreak affected 18 children, five boys and 13 girls aged 2 to 5, as well as five female staff members, who have developed fever, rash over hands and feet, and oral ulcers since May 29. All patients have sought medical attention and none required hospitalisation. All of them are in stable condition.

     Officers of the CHP have conducted a site visit to the school and advised the management on necessary infection control and preventive measures. The school has been put under medical surveillance. Investigations are ongoing.

     “HFMD is common in children while adult cases may also appear. It is usually caused by enteroviruses (EVs) such as Coxsackie virus and EV71. It is clinically characterised by maculopapular rashes or vesicular lesions occurring on the palms, soles and other parts of the body such as the buttocks and thighs. Vesicular lesions and ulcers may also be found in the oral cavity. Sometimes patients present mainly with painful ulcers at the back of the mouth, namely herpangina, without rash on the hands or feet,” a spokesman for the CHP said.
 
     “HFMD occurs throughout the year. A summer peak usually occurs in May to July. As young children are more susceptible, parents should stay alert to their health. Institutional outbreaks may occur where HFMD can easily spread among young children with close contact,” the spokesman added.

     To prevent HFMD, members of the public, and especially the management of institutions, should take heed of the following preventive measures:
 

• Maintain good air circulation;
• Wash hands before meals and after going to the toilet or handling diapers or other stool-soiled materials;
• Keep hands clean and wash hands properly, especially when they are dirtied by respiratory secretions, such as after sneezing;
• Cover the nose and mouth while sneezing or coughing and dispose of nasal and oral discharges properly;
• Regularly clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces such as furniture, toys and commonly shared items with 1:99 diluted household bleach (mixing one part of bleach containing 5.25 per cent sodium hypochlorite with 99 parts of water), leave for 15 to 30 minutes, and then rinse with water and keep dry. For metallic surfaces, disinfect with 70 per cent alcohol;
• Use absorbent disposable towels to wipe away obvious contaminants such as respiratory secretions, vomitus or excreta, and then disinfect the surface and neighbouring areas with 1:49 diluted household bleach (mixing one part of bleach containing 5.25 per cent sodium hypochlorite with 49 parts of water), leave for 15 to 30 minutes and then rinse with water and keep dry. For metallic surfaces, disinfect with 70 per cent alcohol;
• Children who are ill should be kept out of school until their fever and rash have subsided and all the vesicles have dried and crusted;
• Avoid going to overcrowded places; and
• Parents should maintain close communication with schools to let them know the latest situation of the sick children.

     The public may visit the CHP’s page on HFMD and EV71 infection and Public Health Advice for Play Facilities for more information. read more