Tag Archives: China

Attention duty announcers, radio and TV stations: Yellow fire danger warning      The fire danger situation today (January 6) is yellow and the risk of fire is high. People are urged to prevent fires breaking out and hike… read more

     Three charities have been issued Public Subscription Permits to hold flag sales from 7am to 12.30pm today (January 6). They are, on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong Blind Union; in Kowloon, Asia Women’s League Limited; and in the New Territories, Pentecostal Church of Hong Kong, a spokesman for the Social Welfare Department (SWD) said.
      
     Arrangements have been made with the charities to help people to distinguish among the three flag-selling activities.    
      
     Information on the three flag-selling organisations on January 6 is as follows:
 

Region	Name of Organisation	Colour of Collection Bag	Colour of Flag
Hong Kong Island	Hong Kong Blind Union	Yellow	Blue
Kowloon	Asia Women’s League Limited	Yellow	White
New Territories	Pentecostal Church of Hong Kong	Yellow	Yellow

 
     Details of the charitable fund-raising activities, including any updated information, covered by the issued Public Subscription Permits have been published on the GovHK website (www.gov.hk/en/theme/fundraising/search). Permits for flag days containing information on contact methods of the flag-selling organisations and the approved flag-selling activities have also been uploaded to the SWD’s website (www.swd.gov.hk/en/ngo/controlofc/flagdays) for reference. For enquiries, please call the SWD’s hotline at 2343 2255, or the designated hotline of the 1823 Call Centre at 3142 2678.
      
     In the case of suspected fraudulent flag day activities, people should not make any donation and should immediately report the matter to the Police, the spokesman added. read more

     In response to the allegation circulated on the Internet regarding the sales of products claiming to be pre-paid designated bags (DBs) for municipal solid waste (MSW) charging, the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) made the following clarification yesterday (January 5):

     The EPD noticed that several pictures of a green garbage bag, titled “Designated Bag for Hong Kong Municipal Solid Waste Charging Next Year”, have recently been forwarded to an online discussion forum, and that same type of garbage bag is available for sale online. The garbage bag concerned is imprinted with characters including “Designated Bag” and “For Trial Only”. The department suspected that garbage bag is a dummy DB which was provided by the EPD to residents for trial use under its trial projects, which had commenced since 2018, for cultivating their new waste disposal practices, and the associated trial projects were completed at the end of 2023. The EPD emphasises that people are not allowed to use dummy DBs for depositing waste after the commencement of MSW charging, otherwise they may contravene legislations relating to MSW charging. The EPD has also notified the Hong Kong Customs of the the findings for their follow-up investigations. 

     As provided in the Waste Disposal Ordinance (Cap. 354), DBs and designated labels (DLs) shall only be sold by persons authorised by the Director of Environmental Protection (DEP) on prescribed terms to prevent counterfeit DBs and DLs from being supplied in the market. Any unauthorised person who sells DBs and DLs is liable on conviction to a maximum fine of $200,000. Over 3 000 sales points and online platforms authorised by the DEP will start selling DBs and DLs from next month onwards, with details to be announced later this month.

     The EPD has completed registering trade marks for the designs of DBs of different capacities and DLs to guard against possible counterfeit products and eradicate copyright infringement activities. Under the Trade Descriptions Ordinance, any person who sells or possesses, for the purpose of selling, counterfeit goods commits an offence, and is liable on conviction to a maximum fine of $500,000 and to imprisonment for five years. Members of the public may report such activities to the Customs’ 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk). read more

     The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health (DH) is today (January 5) investigating a local case of measles infection and reminded the public that vaccination is the most effective way to prevent measles.

     The case involves a three-year-old boy with good past health. He had developed fever since December 22 last year and visited a private doctor on the same day and his condition improved. Later, he presented with cough, runny nose and rash. He attended the Accident and Emergency Department of Kwong Wah Hospital on December 28 and was admitted on the same day. He is in stable condition after treatment and was discharged on January 2.

     His blood sample tested positive for immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies to measles virus upon laboratory testing. The patient has received measles vaccinations and had no travel history during the incubation period. His three household contacts are currently asymptomatic.

     According to information provided by the family of the patient, he had travelled to the Mainland during the communicable period. He took a cross-boundary coach operated by “Trans-Island Chinalink” from Shanghai Street, Prince Edward, at around 10.35am on December 27 to Fuxiang Bay, Hengqin New District, Zhuhai. He returned to Hong Kong by taking the cross-boundary coach at about 5.50pm on December 28. 

     â€‹The CHP is carrying out contact tracing for the case. Measles is highly infectious and the transmission risk at crowded environment (such as transportation) is higher. Since there is no contact information of all passengers who took the relevant routes at the abovementioned period, the CHP has set up an enquiry hotline (2125 2374) and appealed to the relevant passengers to call the hotline. Officers of the CHP will assess their condition and offer suggestions. The hotline will operate from 9am to 1pm tomorrow (January 6) and on January 7, and from 9am to 5.30pm starting from January 8, Monday to Friday (excluding public holidays). 

     Investigations are ongoing.

     “Vaccination is the most effective way to prevent measles. Members of the public who are planning to travel to places with a high incidence or outbreaks of measles should review their vaccination history and past medical history, especially people born outside Hong Kong who might not have received a measles vaccination during childhood. Those who have not received two doses of measles-containing vaccines, with unknown vaccination history or unknown immunity against measles, are urged to consult their doctor for advice on vaccinations at least two weeks before departure,” a spokesman for the DH said.

     Measles is a highly infectious disease caused by the measles virus. It can be transmitted by airborne droplets or direct contact with nasal or throat secretions of infected persons, and, less commonly, by articles soiled with nose and throat secretions. A patient can pass the disease to other persons from four days before to four days after the appearance of a skin rash.

     The spokesman advised, “The incubation period (the period from infection to appearance of illness) of measles ranges from seven days to 21 days. Symptoms of measles include fever, skin rash, cough, runny nose and red eyes. If symptoms arise, members of the public should wear surgical masks, stop going to work or school and avoid going to crowded places. They should also avoid contact with non-immune persons, especially persons with weakened immunity, pregnant women and children aged below 1. Those suspected to have been infected are advised to seek medical attention as early as possible and reveal relevant contact history of measles to healthcare professionals.”

     Besides being vaccinated against measles, members of the public should take the following measures to prevent infection:
 

• Maintain good personal and environmental hygiene;
• Maintain good indoor ventilation;
• Keep hands clean and wash hands properly;
• Wash hands 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 mouth discharge properly;
• Clean used toys and furniture properly; and
• Persons with measles should be kept out of school till four days from the appearance of a rash to prevent the spread of the infection to non-immune persons in school.

     For more information on measles, the public may visit the CHP’s measles thematic page. Members of the public who are going to travel can visit the website of the DH’s Travel Health Service for news of measles outbreaks outside Hong Kong. read more

     The Health Bureau announced today (January 5) the provision of eHealth account opening services at 18 designated post offices to assist members of the public to register early as eHealth users. The new measure aims to enable citizens in accessing various government health services while the Government is gradually extending the requirement of having an eHealth account to use these services starting this year.
      
     At present, some 80 per cent of Hong Kong citizens are eHealth users. The Government calls on citizens who have not yet registered with eHealth to take action as early as possible in order to continue enjoying various government health services. As a further facilitation, the Government has designated one post office in each of the 18 districts across Hong Kong (see Annex) to provide eHealth account opening service. Citizens simply need to bring their identity documents to the post office. The staff will verify their identity on-site and assist them to complete the registration for the account-opening process. The Government is also planning to extend the eHealth account-opening service to more post offices in the future.
      
     Apart from the new registration channel through post offices, citizens may also continue to make use of multiple existing channels to open eHealth accounts:

• Register online and open accounts in one go upon identity verification through the “iAM Smart” mobile application;
• Register on the eHealth website and complete identity verification by presenting identity documents at the 63 Electronic Health Record (eHR) Registration Centres of the Hospital Authority (HA) or the Department of Health (DH), the eight eHealth mobile registration counters, about 4 800 service locations of private healthcare providers and the eHR Registration Office located at Kowloon Bay in person for opening an eHealth account;
• Visit the above locations direct in person with identity documents for registration and opening eHealth accounts upon identity verification; and
• Visit various District Health Centres (DHCs) to register as members and open eHealth accounts.

     Methods for account opening, addresses and operating hours of service points are detailed on the eHealth website. Since November last year, a default consent arrangement was made in the system to register participating citizens of government-subsidised vaccination schemes with eHealth as a streamlined registration procedure.
      
     The Government will roll out the eHealth+ as announced in the 2023 Policy Address. One of the main directions is to centralise the storage of digital health records from both public and private sectors and to integrate different healthcare protocols through a personalised eHealth account for individual citizens. It is already a current requirement for citizens who receive services at the DHCs, enrol in the Chronic Disease Co-Care Pilot Scheme launched in mid-November last year, or participate in the Public Private Partnership Programmes of the DH and the HA to use eHealth. To foster the development of primary healthcare services, the Government will gradually extend the arrangement for use of eHealth from this year to other government health services, including government-subsidised vaccination schemes and the Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme. Another major future development of the eHealth+ system is to support various cross-boundary medical collaboration initiatives within the Greater Bay Area including the Elderly Health Care Voucher Greater Bay Area Pilot Scheme. Measures will be introduced later to enable citizens to bring their health records to seek medical treatment across the boundary.
      
     The Government has been striving to optimise the eHealth mobile application with a view to enabling members of the public to have better control and management of their health records. A number of functions have been added to allow citizens to record and manage their personal health data, such as accessing records of government-subsidised vaccination schemes, making appointments at selected clinics under the DH and the HA, checking the balance of the Elderly Health Care Voucher, and managing and integrating blood pressure and blood glucose indexes for healthcare personnel’s reference.
      
     For other details about eHealth, members of the public may visit the website or call the hotline at 3467 6300. read more