The Hong Kong Police College signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with three education institutions today (January 19) to announce the launch of the “Diploma of Applied Education (DAE) – Police Cadet Training&r… read more
The Director of Fire Services, Mr Andy Yeung, expressed profound sadness at the passing of a fireman, Mr Yau Yiu-man, who passed away during a rescue operation at a traffic accident today (January 19).
Mr Yau, aged 49, was attached to the Penny’s Bay Fire Station. He collapsed suddenly at the scene of a traffic accident he had handled this morning. His colleague, who was also at the scene, immediately performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation and applied an automated external defibrillator to provide emergency care to him. He was rushed to the hospital at 12.06pm and passed away at 3.08pm.
“Having been a member of the Fire Services Department for over 31 years, Mr Yau’s performance was excellent. He was awarded the Hong Kong Fire Services Long Service Medal – First Clasp, a Certificate of Appreciation by the Chief Secretary for Administration and the Senior Commander’s Commendation. I am profoundly grieved at the loss of this dedicated and gallant fireman. All of our colleagues are deeply saddened by the loss of such a devoted comrade. On behalf of all our colleagues, I have offered the deepest condolences to his family,” Mr Yeung said.
“Our Welfare Officer is closely liaising with Mr Yau’s family and will render our utmost assistance to help them through this sad and difficult time.” read more
The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health today (January 19) reported the latest number of dengue fever (DF) cases, and urged the public to maintain strict environmental hygiene, mosquito control and personal protective measures both locally and during travel.
From January 12 to yesterday (January 18), the CHP recorded three imported DF cases. The patients had been to Malaysia (one case) and Vietnam (two cases) respectively during the incubation period.
As of yesterday, four imported cases of DF had been recorded in 2024. In 2023, 62 imported cases of DF were recorded.
According to the World Health Organization, the global incidence of DF has markedly increased over the past two decades, posing a substantial public health challenge. Since the beginning of 2023, ongoing transmission, combined with an unexpected spike in DF cases, have resulted in close to a historic high of over five million cases and more than 5 000 dengue-related deaths reported in over 80 countries/territories. Several countries in Southeast Asia, including Bangladesh and Thailand, have reported a notable surge in dengue cases in 2023 compared to previous years, whereas the most affected countries in the Western Pacific region are the Philippines and Vietnam. As such, members of the public, while travelling abroad, should stay vigilant and carry out effective mosquito prevention and control measures. Detailed information on the latest DF situation in Hong Kong, as well as neighbouring and overseas countries and areas, has been uploaded to the CHP’s website (www.chp.gov.hk/files/pdf/df_imported_cases_and_overseas_figures_eng.pdf).
“Apart from general measures, travellers returning from areas affected by DF should apply insect repellent for 14 days upon arrival in Hong Kong. If feeling unwell, seek medical advice promptly and provide travel details to the doctor,” a spokesman for the CHP said.
The public should take heed of the following advice on mosquito control:
The Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) released today (January 19) the results of the Quarterly Business Tendency Survey for the first quarter (Q1) of 2024.
Business situation
For all surveyed sectors taken together, the proportion of respondents expecting their business situation to be better (13%) in Q1 2024 over the preceding quarter is slightly higher than that expecting it to be worse (12%).
When compared with the results of the Q4 2023 survey round, the proportion of respondents expecting a better business situation in Q1 2024 is 13%, lower than the corresponding proportion of 17% in Q4 2023. On the other hand, the proportion of respondents expecting a worse business situation has increased from 9% in Q4 2023 to 12% in Q1 2024.
Analysed by sector, respondents in most of the surveyed sectors expect their business situation to increase on balance or remain broadly unchanged in Q1 2024 as compared with Q4 2023. In particular, more respondents in the financing and insurance sector expect their business situation to be better in Q1 2024 as compared with Q4 2023.
The results of the survey should be interpreted with care. In this type of survey on expectations, the views collected in the survey are affected by the events in the community occurring around the time of enumeration, and it is difficult to establish precisely the extent to which respondents’ perception of the future accords with the underlying trends. The enumeration period for this survey round was from December 1, 2023 to January 8, 2024.
Volume of business/output
Respondents in quite a number of the surveyed sectors expect their volume of business/output to increase on balance or remain broadly unchanged in Q1 2024 as compared with Q4 2023. In particular, more respondents in the financing and insurance and retail sectors expect their volume of business/sales to increase in Q1 2024 over Q4 2023. On the other hand, more respondents in the construction sector expect their volume of construction output to decrease, as compared to those expecting it to increase.
Employment
Respondents in most of the surveyed sectors expect their employment to increase on balance or remain broadly unchanged in Q1 2024 as compared with Q4 2023. In particular, more respondents in the accommodation and food services, manufacturing, financing and insurance and real estate sectors expect their employment to increase in Q1 2024 over Q4 2023. On the other hand, more respondents in the information and communications sector expect their employment to decrease, as compared to those expecting it to increase.
Selling price/service charge
Respondents in most of the surveyed sectors expect their selling prices/service charges to remain broadly unchanged in Q1 2024 as compared with Q4 2023. In the accommodation and food services sector, however, more respondents expect their charges for services rendered/prices of food provided to go up in Q1 2024 over Q4 2023.
Commentary
A Government spokesman said that business sentiment among large enterprises showed some softening as compared to three months ago, but remained positive in overall terms. Large enterprises’ appetite for hiring also stayed positive.
Looking forward, the spokesman said that further recovery of consumption- and tourism-related activities should support business outlook, though the difficult external environment and tight financial conditions will continue to dampen sentiment. The Government will monitor the situation closely.
Further information
The survey gathers views on short-term business performance from the senior management of about 570 prominent establishments in various sectors in Hong Kong with a view to providing a quick reference, with minimum time lag, for predicting the short-term future economic performance of the local economy.
The survey covers 10 major sectors in Hong Kong, namely manufacturing; construction; import/export trade and wholesale; retail; accommodation and food services (mainly covering services rendered by hotels and restaurants); transportation, storage and courier services; information and communications; financing and insurance; real estate; and professional and business services sectors.
Views collected in the survey refer only to those of respondents on their own establishments rather than those on the respective sectors they are engaged in, and are limited to the expected direction of quarter-to-quarter change (e.g. “up”, “same” or “down”) but not the magnitude of change. In collecting views on the quarter-to-quarter changes, if the variable in question is subject to seasonal variations, respondents are asked to provide the expected changes after excluding the normal seasonal variations.
Survey results are generally presented as “net balance”, i.e. the difference between the percentage of respondents choosing “up” and that choosing “down”. The percentage distribution of respondents among various response categories (e.g. “up”, “same” and “down”) reflects how varied their business expectations are. The “net balance”, with its appropriate sign, indicates the direction of expected change in the variable concerned. A positive sign indicates a likely upward trend while a negative sign indicates a likely downward trend. However, the magnitude of the “net balance” reflects only the prevalence of optimism or pessimism, but not the magnitude of expected change, since information relating to such magnitude is not collected in the survey.
Furthermore, owing to sample size constraint, care should be taken in interpreting survey results involving a small percentage (e.g. less than 10%) of respondents in individual sectors.
Chart 1 shows the views on expected changes in business situation for the period Q1 2023 to Q1 2024.
Table 1 shows the net balances of views on expectations in respect of different variables for Q1 2024.
The survey results are published in greater detail in the “Report on Quarterly Business Tendency Survey, Q1 2024”. Users can browse and download the publication at the website of the C&SD (www.censtatd.gov.hk/en/EIndexbySubject.html?pcode=B1110008&scode=300).
Users who have enquiries about the survey results may contact the Business Expectation Statistics Section of the C&SD (Tel: 3903 7263; email: business-prospects@censtatd.gov.hk). read more
The Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) announced today (January 19) the department’s public service arrangements during the Lunar New Year holidays. Parks, playgrounds, and facilities at Queen Elizabeth Stadium under the LCSD will remain open during the Lunar New Year holidays. The SmartPLAY Internet booking service will also operate as usual throughout the holidays.
After the closure during the first two days of the Lunar New Year, some recreation and sports facilities will reopen and operate as usual (please refer to Annex 1 for details) on the third day of the Lunar New Year (February 12), including sports centres, squash courts, tennis courts, turf pitches, bowling greens, Tuen Mun Recreation and Sports Centre and the archery range at Ngau Chi Wan Park.
Apart from the above facilities, some sports centres, various fee-charging land-based facilities, swimming pools and water sports centres will be closed during the first three days of the Lunar New Year (February 10 to 12). Services at gazetted beaches will also be suspended. Stadia and all sports grounds will be closed unless advance bookings have been made.
Holiday camps will be closed during the first three days of the Lunar New Year and lodging will not be provided on Lunar New Year’s Eve (February 9).
SmartPLAY service counters at venues will not operate when the venues are closed. For venues scheduled to reopen on February 12, their SmartPLAY service counters will also resume operation on the same day.
Details of the opening arrangements for LCSD recreation and sports venues during the Lunar New Year holidays have been posted at all venues and uploaded to the department’s website (www.lcsd.gov.hk/en/index.html).
Regarding cultural venues, the opening hours of performance venues and URBTIX outlets during the Lunar New Year holidays are listed in Annex 2. From February 9 to 13 (Lunar New Year’s Eve to the fourth day of the Lunar New Year), the URBTIX Internet booking (www.urbtix.hk) and the mobile ticketing app URBTIX will maintain normal services, and both the telephone booking hotline 3166 1288 and the ticketing enquiries and customer service hotline 3166 1100 will provide normal services from 10am to 8pm daily.
The opening hours of the 15 museums and two visual art centres (see Annex 3) under the LCSD during the Lunar New Year holidays are as follow: