Tag Archives: China

     Hongkong Post announced today (November 1) that, according to the latest requirement of Indonesia Post, senders must submit an electronic customs declaration for sending mail containing goods (non-documents) to Indonesia with effect from November 6 (Monday).
 
     The above requirement has already been put into effect for the posting of mail containing goods to a number of destinations including the Mainland, the member states of the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, Korea, Brazil, etc. The customs information required is largely the same as that currently provided in the paper declaration forms, which includes:

• sender’s information;
• addressee’s information;
• particulars of contents; and
• Harmonized System (HS) Code.

     As reminded by Indonesia Post, all categories of mail containing goods that do not meet with the abovementioned requirement may be subject to delay or return. Senders should provide a return address on mail items. Items returned without  return addresses will be destroyed. Postage will not be refunded for return or disposal as a result of such circumstances.
 
     Hongkong Post has made available various channels, including online platforms (Easy PreCustoms, EC-Ship, My Speedpost and Post Now), the Hongkong Post mobile app and the Easy PreCustoms kiosk or tablet in all post offices, for senders to submit their electronic customs declarations. For details, please refer to Hongkong Post’s website (www.hongkongpost.hk/en/other/2020/ecustoms/index.html).
  read more

     Following is a question by Dr the Hon Dennis Lam and a written reply by the Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, in the Legislative Council today (November 1):

Question:

     One more case of invasive meningococcal infection was recorded in Hong Kong in August this year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) of the number of cases of meningococcal infection recorded in Hong Kong, as well as the serogroups involved, in each of the past five years;

(2) as it has been reported that about 90 per cent of children and adolescents infected with Neisseria meningitidis died within 24 hours of infection, of the details of the authorities’ promotion and publicity programmes regarding meningococcal vaccination for children and adolescents at present;

(3) whether it has compiled statistics on the number of members of the public in Hong Kong who received meningococcal vaccination in each of the past five years; and

(4) as it has been reported that the largest group of meningococcal infections in Hong Kong in recent years was caused by Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B, whether the Centre for Health Protection will study the formulation of guidelines on vaccination against Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Reply:

President,

     Meningococcal infection is one of the statutory notifiable diseases in Hong Kong. The incidence of the disease is low (below 0.2 cases per 100 000 population in Hong Kong in the past five years). According to World Health Organization (WHO)’s recommendation, incidence at two cases or more per 100 000 population per year is considered as medium and high endemicity. Meningococcal infection is mainly transmitted by direct contact through respiratory secretions or droplets from infected persons or carriers. Severe illness may result when the bacteria invade the bloodstream (meningococcaemia) or the membranes that envelop the brain and spinal cord (meningococcal meningitis). Patients should be treated promptly with antibiotics. Close contacts would need to be placed under medical surveillance for early signs of disease and may be given preventive medications when necessary. 

     To effectively prevent meningococcal infection, members of the public are advised to observe personal hygiene (e.g. cover the nose and mouth while sneezing or coughing, wash hands with liquid soap and water properly, etc) and environmental hygiene (e.g. maintain good indoor ventilation, avoid going to crowded or poorly ventilated public places). When having respiratory symptoms, members of the public should wear a surgical mask, refrain from work or attending classes at school, avoid going to crowded places and seek medical advice promptly. These measures are also effective against respiratory tract infections, including COVID-19, seasonal influenza and Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection, etc. 

     The reply, in consultation with the Department of Health (DH), to the questions raised by Dr the Hon Dennis Lam is as follows:

(1) Between 2018 and 2022, the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the DH received a total of 26 notifications of invasive meningococcal infection, ranging from 0 to 14 cases per year (i.e. annual incidence of 0 to 0.19 cases per 100 000 population). As of October 20, 2023, there were a total of five notifications of invasive meningococcal infection recorded this year. The number of cases and the related serogroups are provided in the table below. All reported cases were sporadic and no cluster outbreak occurred.
 

	Serogroup					Total
	B	C	W	Y	Unknown
2018	5	2	1	2	0	10
2019	7	2	1	2	2	14
2020	0	0	0	0	0	0
2021	2	0	0	0	0	2
2022	0	0	0	0	0	0
2023 (As at October 20)	2	0	0	1	2	5

(2 to 4) The CHP has been keeping abreast of the latest position of the WHO on immunisation and vaccination, the scientific evidence of vaccines, the latest global and local epidemiology of vaccine preventable diseases, and the advice and practical experience of health authorities across the world. The Scientific Committee on Vaccine Preventable Diseases (SCVPD) under the CHP meets regularly to review and develop strategies for prevention and control of vaccine preventable diseases and their risk factors in the light of changing epidemiology and advances in medical science, so as to provide science-based advice on vaccine use at population level to the Government.

     The WHO recommended countries with medium and high incidence (i.e. two cases or more per 100 000 population per year) and frequent outbreaks of invasive meningococcal infection should implement large scale meningococcal immunisation programme.

     The incidence of meningococcal infection is low in Hong Kong. Regarding the use of meningococcal vaccine, the SCVPD has not made any recommendation on large scale immunisation in Hong Kong. The SCVPD recommends that if travellers have the following itinerary, they may consider receiving meningococcal vaccination after consulting doctor:

(i) according to the risk of exposure and local epidemic situations, persons going to stay in the sub-Saharan Africa during the dry season; 
(ii) persons going to areas that are known to experience epidemic meningococcal infection as announced by the local health authorities; and 
(iii) persons visiting Saudi Arabia for Hajj, Umrah or for seasonal work in Hajj zones.  

     At present, meningococcal vaccines, including meningococcal group B vaccine and meningococcal group ACWY vaccine, have been registered in Hong Kong. Public may receive the concerned vaccine in the private clinic after consulting doctor.

     Except for COVID-19 vaccines, there is no current legislation requirement for private doctors to upload the vaccination record of patients to the Electronic Health Record Sharing System (eHealth). The Government does not maintain the figures on meningococcal vaccine received in private clinics by the public.

     The SCVPD will continue to closely monitor the scientific development of meningococcal vaccine and the latest epidemiology of invasive meningococcal infection, and update the recommendation as needed.  read more

     The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health (DH) said today (November 1) that it is investigating a confirmed Mpox (also known as Monkeypox) case, and urged the public to heighten vigilance and avoid close physical contact with persons suspected of contracting Mpox. Meanwhile, high-risk target groups are advised to receive Mpox vaccination.

     The case involves a 56-year-old male patient with an underlying illness. He had developed vesicles since October 29, and visited the Wan Chai Male Social Hygiene Clinic of the DH on October 30. He is in stable condition and arrangements were made for him to be admitted to Princess Margaret Hospital. 

     An initial investigation revealed that the patient had high-risk exposure in Hong Kong during the incubation period with no travel history. No epidemiological linkages between this case and other confirmed cases recorded in Hong Kong earlier have been found so far. The CHP is continuing its epidemiological investigations of the case and will report the case to the World Health Organization.

     A total of 52 confirmed Mpox cases have been recorded in Hong Kong so far. The CHP appeals again to high-risk target groups to receive Mpox vaccination with a view to lowering the risk of infection or the possibility of having more severe symptoms after infection. Persons who experience Mpox symptoms (including rashes, fever, chills, swollen lymph nodes, exhaustion, muscle pain, and severe headaches) or suspect themselves of being infected are advised to seek medical attention and receive treatment at once, and they should not engage in activities with others during which other people may have contact with their skin rash or body fluids. Members of the public should maintain good personal and hand hygiene to prevent virus transmission or infection through contact. They should also avoid close physical contact with persons or animals suspected of infection.

     The CHP had earlier set up an Mpox telephone hotline (2125 2373). The hotline operates from Monday to Friday (excluding public holidays) from 9am to 5pm, which enables those who suspect or are concerned they have had high-risk contact with confirmed patients, in particular men who have sex with men or those who have sexual practices with strangers, to make enquiries and receive relevant health advice.

     The Government has activated the Alert level of the preparedness and response plan for the disease in September last year and will continue to assess the risk in view of the latest scientific evidence and situation, and implement corresponding control measures.

     The Mpox vaccination programme for high-risk groups commenced on October 5 last year. Under the programme, the following high-risk target groups can receive Mpox vaccination on a voluntary basis:
　　

1. Individuals with high-risk sexual practices, e.g. having multiple sexual partners, sex workers, or having a history of sexually transmitted infection within the past 12 months;
2. Healthcare workers responsible for caring of patients with confirmed Mpox;
3. Laboratory personnel working with zoonotic pox viruses; and
4. Animal care personnel with high risk of exposure in case of Mpox occurrence in animals in Hong Kong.

     High-risk target groups can receive Mpox vaccination at the designated Mpox vaccination centre (situated at 2/F, CHP building, 147C Argyle Street, Mong Kok), by appointment through email (mpv_booking@dh.gov.hk) or telephone booking line (2547 1900) during office hours. They can also receive Mpox walk-in vaccinations at all of the DH’s Social Hygiene Service Clinics (SocHS) (namely Chai Wan SocHS, Wan Chai Male SocHS, Wan Chai Female SocHS, Yau Ma Tei Male SocHS, Yau Ma Tei Female SocHS, Yung Fung Shee SocHS, Fanling SocHS and Tuen Mun SocHS). Further information of the clinics including their locations is available at www.dh.gov.hk/english/tele/tele_chc/tele_chc_shcf.html and www.dh.gov.hk/english/tele/tele_chc/tele_chc_shcm.html.

     Meanwhile, the DH’s Integrated Treatment Centre in Kowloon Bay, and the Hospital Authority’s Special Medical Clinics at Queen Elizabeth Hospital and Princess Margaret Hospital will continue to provide Mpox vaccination services for their clients.

     For more details, please visit the CHP’s page on Mpox. read more

     Following is a question by the Hon Lau Kwok-fan and a written reply by the Secretary for Development, Ms Bernadette Linn, in the Legislative Council today (November 1):
 
Question:
      
     Under the Urban Renewal Authority Ordinance (Cap. 563), if the redevelopment project concerned requires an amendment to the land use zoning in the relevant Outline Zoning Plan (OZP), the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) will implement redevelopment by way of a “development scheme”; if the development involved in the redevelopment project concerned accords with the land use zoning in the relevant OZP, the URA will implement redevelopment by way of a “development project”. Each year, the URA has to prepare a draft corporate plan setting out the projects proposed to be implemented in the next five years as well as a draft annual business plan for submission to the Financial Secretary (FS) for approval. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) of the respective numbers of development schemes and development projects whose commencement has been gazetted by the URA since Cap.‍ 563 took effect;
 
(2) whether the FS has rejected or amended the projects proposed to be implemented in the draft corporate plans submitted by the URA since Cap. 563 took effect; if so, of the number of projects involved and the reasons for that;
 
(3) given that under Cap. 563, authorisation from the Secretary for Development (SDEV) must be sought for implementing redevelopment by way of a development project, whether the SDEV (and the former Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands (SHPL) as well as the former Secretary for Planning and Lands (SPL)) have declined to authorise the implementation of or made amendments to development projects since Cap. 563 took effect; if so, of the number of projects involved and the reasons for that;
 
(4) given that under Cap. 563, projects proposed to be implemented by the URA already require the prior approval of FS, why authorisation from the SDEV (or the former SHPL as well as the former SPL) must be sought in accordance with Cap. 563 again when implementing development projects, and of the legislative intent of the relevant authorisation procedure; 
 
(5) whether it has examined the average time currently required from the gazettal of development projects or development schemes by the URA to the completion of land resumption through invoking the Lands Resumption Ordinance (Cap. 124) by the Government; whether the authorities have considered reviewing Cap. 563 to streamline the URA’s workflow of implementing redevelopment, thereby expediting the pace of urban renewal; if not, of the reasons for that; and
 
(6) of the following information on each development scheme and development project whose commencement has been gazetted by the URA since the publication of the new Urban Renewal Strategy on February 24, 2011: (i) the way of implementation (i.e. by way of a development scheme or development project), (ii) the ages and number of buildings involved, (iii) the number and percentage of buildings in poor conditions, (iv) the number and percentage of buildings in varied conditions, (v) the number and percentage of buildings in satisfactory conditions, (vi) the number and percentage of buildings in good conditions, and (vii) the number and percentage of “three-nil” buildings involved (set out in the table below by project number and project name)?
 

Project number	Project name	(i)	(ii)	(iii)	(iv)	(v)	(vi)	(vii)

Reply:
 
President,
 
     In consultation with the Urban Renewal Authority (URA), I would like to reply as follows:
     
(1) Since the Urban Renewal Authority Ordinance (Cap. 563) (Ordinance) came into force in 2001 and up to end-October 2023, the URA has commenced 23 development schemes under section 25 of the Ordinance and 32 development projects under section 26 of the Ordinance.

(2) In accordance to sections 21 and 22 of the Ordinance, the URA shall, no later than three months before the end of each financial year, submit to the Financial Secretary (FS) for approval a draft corporate plan for the next five years (including the next financial year) and a draft business plan for the next financial year. The FS is empowered to approve or refuse to approve the two draft plans in accordance with the Ordinance. The two draft plans should be endorsed by the Board of the URA before they are submitted to the FS. 
     
     Since the Ordinance came into force, after considering the redevelopment plans, building rehabilitation programmes and other works as proposed in the draft plans submitted each year, the FS was generally satisfied that the work of the URA has followed the missions of the Ordinance and the guidelines set out in the Urban Renewal Strategy (Note), and the URA was able to maintain a healthy and sustainable financial position. As such, while during the process the FS might provide comments to individual aspects and request the URA to make adjustments as necessary, all the draft plans submitted by the URA in the past have been generally approved by the Financial Secretary.
     
(3) and (4) In deciding whether to approve the corporate plan and business plan, the FS will mainly deliberate at the macro-policy level and financial aspects. That said, as the implementation of individual redevelopment projects will affect relevant owners, tenants, business operators and the community, the Ordinance therefore provides a mechanism for affected parties to raise objections to the development schemes / development projects. For “development schemes”, affected parties can make representations within two months after the relevant plans were published in Gazette notices according to the Town Planning Ordinance (Cap. 131) (TPO), and the Town Planning Board (TPB) will handle the representations in accordance with the TPO. For “development projects”, affected parties can raise objection to the URA within two months from the publication of the projects in Gazette notice in accordance with the Ordinance. Afterwards, the URA is required to submit the social impact assessment reports of the relevant redevelopment projects, together with the written objections and its deliberation on the written objections, to the Secretary for Development (SDEV). In determining whether to authorise, or otherwise, the URA to undertake the relevant projects, the SDEV should also examine the written objections concerned. This mechanism enables the SDEV to consider the actual circumstances of individual development projects, deliberate thoroughly on public views and take account of public interest as well as the interests of affected persons before deciding whether to authorise the URA to proceed with the projects, or otherwise, to make amendment to the projects.

     Since the Ordinance became effective and up to end-October 2023, the SDEV once declined to authorise a development project under the Ordinance in 2013, namely the industrial building redevelopment at No. 12P Smithfield, Kennedy Town (IB-1: CW). The owners of the industrial building concerned raised objections to the implementation of the development project by the URA for the reason that they had the intention and resources to redevelop on their own. After prudent consideration of those owners’ written objections and the deliberations submitted by the URA, the SDEV decided to decline to authorise URA to proceed with that development project.

(5) Among the 55 redevelopment schemes / redevelopment projects mentioned in part (1) above, the Government has completed resumption of private land under the Lands Resumption Ordinance (Cap. 124) (LRO) for 43 projects for redevelopment by the URA. For these 43 schemes / projects, counting from the date of publishing the Gazette notice under the Ordinance and conducting the freezing survey immediately, and up to the date the Government invoked the LRO to resume the relevant private land (in between, the URA has to seek approval from the TPB to amend the land use zoning indicated in the relevant Outline Zoning Plan (in case of development schemes) or authorisation from the SDEV (in case of development projects), as well as to undertake acquisition and relocation,etc.), the average time required is about 34 months.

     The URA has to go through a series of statutory procedures after the publication of Gazette notice to commence individual redevelopment schemes / redevelopment projects. As mentioned in parts (3) and (4) above, affected persons can raise objections to the redevelopment schemes / redevelopment projects within the stipulated deadline, and the URA has to submit the written objections received, its deliberation on the written objections as well as the social impact assessment reports of the redevelopment schemes / redevelopment projects to the SDEV (if involving redevelopment projects) or the TPB (if involving redevelopment schemes) for consideration. Afterwards, the URA has to conduct extensive consultations with the owners, tenants and business operators in regard to compensation, relocation and rehousing issues, etc. The principle is to acquire the properties through negotiation as far as possible. If eventually acquisition through negotiation cannot be made for all the properties concerned, the Government will then invoke LRO to resume the relevant private land.

     Although it takes time to complete the complicated processes such as property acquisition involved in the redevelopment programme, the URA has endeavoured to compress the time required in order to ensure that the affected parties will receive appropriate compensation and support, whereas the projects can be implemented the soonest possible so that capital can be returned earlier for better cash flow management. Moreover, redevelopment projects of the URA can also benefit from the streamlined development-related statutory procedures introduced by the relevant legislation effective from September 2023, which include shortening of the town planning procedures and allowing certain statutory processes to be conducted, such as publication of Gazette notices respectively for road works and land resumption, at a similar time. These adjustments help accelerate the redevelopment work of the URA. We therefore consider that there is no need to amend the Ordinance at this stage. 

(6) Since the promulgation of the new Urban Renewal Strategy on February 24, 2011 and up to end-October 2023, the URA has commenced a total of 37 development schemes or projects as announced in the Gazette notices published under the Ordinance. Details are set out in the Annex. 

Note: Formulated by the SDEV in accordance with section 20 of the Ordinance. read more

     The Leisure and Cultural Services Department announced today (November 1) that to facilitate preparation of new exhibitions, the 1/F of the Hong Kong Museum of History will be closed starting from tomorrow (November 2). The "Re… read more