The effective exchange rate index for the Hong Kong dollar on Thursday, May 30, 2024 is 106.3 (up 0.1 against yesterday's index).

     â€‹An officer of the Escort and Support Group of the Correctional Services Department was attacked by a member of the public while discharging his duties today (May 30).

     At 11.26am today, the officer was attacked by a man with spitting when discharging his duties at Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Officers at the scene immediately stopped the assailant and called for reinforcement.
 
     The officer being attacked was referred to a public hospital for examination.

     The case has been reported to the Police for investigation. 

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority.

     The Hospital Authority (HA) spokesperson announced the following senior appointment today (May 30):

     Dr So Wing-yee will be appointed as Hospital Chief Executive (HCE) of North District Hospital with effect from tomorrow (May 31).

     Dr So is a specialist in endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism by background. She is an experienced senior executive and clinical leader with a strong background in healthcare management at both the corporate and cluster levels. Dr So is currently the HCE of Bradbury Hospice, Cheshire Home, Shatin (SCH) and Shatin Hospital (SH), as well as the Clinical Stream Coordinator (Medicine) of the New Territories East Cluster (NTEC). She has achieved notable accomplishments in recent years in driving improvements in patient care in the NTEC, such as shortening medicine specialist outpatient clinic waiting times, as well as implementing the 24-hour Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention and Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell Therapy services. In addition, Dr So promulgated Advanced Care Planning (ACP) among infirmary patients in the SCH and pioneered a "Co-Care" model for geriatric patients with traumatic head injury in SH. She has also effectively mobilised community resources to support hospital service development and played a significant role in the review of the NTEC Clinical Service Plan.

     The HA Chairman, Mr Henry Fan, and Chief Executive, Dr Tony Ko, congratulate Dr So on her new appointment and wish her every success in taking up the new role.

  

     The Education Bureau (EDB) reminded parents today (May 30) that the results of the Central Allocation for Primary One Admission (POA) 2024 will be mailed to parents next Wednesday and Thursday (June 5 and 6).
 
Release of Central Allocation results
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     "A total of 19 204 children took part in Primary One Central Allocation 2024. Among them, 16 083 children were allocated to schools of their first three choices," an EDB spokesman said.
 
     "Taking into account discretionary places and the number of children allocated to schools of their first three choices in the Central Allocation, the overall satisfaction rate is 92.2 per cent."

     The Central Allocation of POA is composed of two parts. Ten per cent of the places for the Central Allocation, which are not restricted by school nets, are under Part A and parents may choose up to three schools in any school net. The remaining 90 per cent of the places for the Central Allocation are under Part B and parents are required to select schools in the school net/Choice of Schools List in respect of the applicant child. Of the places allocated to children in the Central Allocation, 2 149 are under Part A and 17 055  are under Part B.

     Parents who completed the Choice of Schools Form for the Central Allocation on or before January 28 this year will receive the Primary One Registration Form delivered from June 5 and 6 through the Local CourierPost service provided by Hongkong Post. If door delivery by Hongkong Post fails, a Mail Collection Notification Card will be left for parents to collect it from the designated post office starting from the afternoon of the following working day. If parents have not received the Primary One Registration Form or the Mail Collection Notification Card issued by Hongkong Post by June 7, they could collect the Primary One Registration Form at the designated collection centre from June 8 and 9 (please refer to the EDB's POA System webpage for details then).
 
     If parents have provided a mobile phone number on the Choice of Schools Form and indicated their consent to receive the Central Allocation results via the mobile phone number, they will also receive the results of their applicant children via SMS on June 5. In addition, parents who have already activated their POA e-Platform (ePOA) account via "iAM Smart" or "iAM Smart+" (www.iamsmart.gov.hk/en/reg.html) could check the Central Allocation results through the ePOA from 10am on June 5. Please refer to the related videos and Parents' Guide on the EDB homepage (www.edb.gov.hk/en/edu-system/primary-secondary/spa-systems/primary-1-admission/poa_eplatform/index.html) for details of the procedures for activating and logging into an ePOA account and for checking allocation results via the e-Platform. 
      
Registration of pupils
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     Parents are required to register their child with the school allocated from June 11 to 13 (Tuesday to Thursday) during school hours.
 
     The spokesman reminded that parents who cannot register their child with the school on the above dates due to matters of grave importance should notify the person in charge of registration of the school allocated in advance to make alternative arrangements. Otherwise, they would be deemed to have given up the school place allocated.
 
 
Arrangements for special circumstances
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     Should parents decide to give up the place allocated because of special circumstances, such as moving to another district far from the school allocated, they should not register their child with the school allocated. Under such circumstances, they are advised to go to the EDB's School Places Allocation Section, Podium Floor, West Block, Education Bureau Kowloon Tong Education Services Centre, 19 Suffolk Road, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, to make necessary arrangements for transfer. They should bring along the Primary One Registration Form, the original and copies of documents showing proof of the new address (such as a rental contract, rates demand notes, or water or electricity bills bearing the name of the parent or the guardian of the child).
 
     Any parent who finds it necessary to transfer his/her child to another school after registration is strongly advised to obtain an assurance of acceptance from that school before retrieving the Primary One Registration Form from the original school because retrieval of the registration form means cancellation of the allocated school place.
 
     In case of inclement weather or other special circumstances during the period for the announcement of results or on any day(s) designated for registration, parents should pay attention to announcements on radio and television for special arrangements for Central Allocation or registration.
 
Enquiries
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     Parents wishing to obtain general information regarding POA procedures can call the EDB's 24-hour automatic telephone enquiry service at 2891 0088. Further enquiries can be made to the School Places Allocation Section at 2832 7610 (for Hong Kong Island and Islands), 2832 7620 (for Kowloon), 2832 7635 (for New Territories West), 2832 7659 (for New Territories East) and 2832 7700/2832 7740 (for general enquiries) during office hours, as well as from 9am to 4.30pm on June 8 (Saturday) and June 9 (Sunday).

     In response to the Japanese Government's plan to discharge nuclear-contaminated water at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Station, the Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene issued a Food Safety Order which prohibits all aquatic products, sea salt and seaweeds originating from the 10 metropolis/prefectures, namely Tokyo, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Miyagi, Chiba, Gunma, Tochigi, Niigata, Nagano and Saitama, from being imported into and supplied in Hong Kong.
 
     For other Japanese aquatic products, sea salt and seaweeds that are not prohibited from being imported into Hong Kong, the Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department will conduct comprehensive radiological tests to verify that the radiation levels of these products do not exceed the guideline levels before they are allowed to be supplied in the market.
 
     As the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water is unprecedented and will continue for 30 years or more, the Government will closely monitor and step up the testing arrangements. Should anomalies be detected, the Government does not preclude further tightening the scope of the import ban.
 
     From noon on May 29 to noon today (May 30), the CFS conducted tests on the radiological levels of 158 food samples imported from Japan, which were of the "aquatic and related products, seaweeds and sea salt" category. No sample was found to have exceeded the safety limit. Details can be found on the CFS's thematic website titled "Control Measures on Foods Imported from Japan" (www.cfs.gov.hk/english/programme/programme_rafs/programme_rafs_fc_01_30_Nuclear_Event_and_Food_Safety.html).

     In parallel, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) has also tested 50 samples of local catch for radiological levels. All the samples passed the tests. Details can be found on the AFCD's website (www.afcd.gov.hk/english/fisheries/Radiological_testing/Radiological_Test.html).
 
     The Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) has also enhanced the environmental monitoring of the local waters. No anomaly has been detected so far. For details, please refer to the HKO's website
(www.hko.gov.hk/en/radiation/monitoring/seawater.html).
 
     From August 24 to noon today, the CFS and the AFCD have conducted tests on the radiological levels of 55 324 samples of food imported from Japan (including 35 796 samples of aquatic and related products, seaweeds and sea salt) and 13 888 samples of local catch respectively. All the samples passed the tests.