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Sewage holds virus clues

In a win-win strategy aimed at fighting the virus, the Government has teamed up with a cross-disciplinary team of the University of Hong Kong on sewage surveillance since October last year. It is the Environmental Protection Department’s job to identify high-risk areas that require sewage surveillance according to the trend of the coronavirus epidemic, analyse the sewerage networks and devise a sampling strategy. The Drainage Services Department plays an equally important role. It selects sewage manholes, arranges the sampling by contractors and carries out cleaning and disinfection after the sampling is completed. As people usually go to the toilet in the morning, samples are taken every 15 minutes, from 8am to 11am. A total of 12 samples are taken to ensure they are sufficiently random. Drainage Services Department Assistant Director Ho Yiu-kwong said: “We try to avoid conducting sampling at locations on major roads or carriageways because it will involve considerable

Govt to review entry restrictions

The Government will review whether stricter restrictions on people arriving in Hong Kong are warranted after a man who flew in from Dubai and completed a 21-day quarantine tested positive for COVID-19. Secretary for Food & Health Prof Sophia Chan made the remarks today in response to media enquiries after attending a radio programme. She noted that the Government had recently implemented the tightened commercial flight suspension mechanism to address the risk of importing mutant strains of COVID-19 from very high-risk places. “Starting from April 14, we have already strengthened our suspension of flight mechanism. If we look at the past data, from March to now we have already suspended seven flights for 14 days from different countries. “Therefore with this new mechanism, we envisage that we will be suspending more flights.” Prof Chan added the Government will continue to review the situation in a timely manner. http://dlvr.it/Rxw2NV

1.05m vaccine doses administered

About 1,057,200 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered to the public, with about 697,300 people receiving their first dose and about 359,900 people getting their second dose. Among those given the first dose of vaccines, about 372,000 people have received the Sinovac jab and about 325,300 people have received the BioNTech one. For the second dose, about 212,700 people have received the Sinovac vaccine, while about 147,200 people have been administered the BioNTech jab. About 4,000 people received their first dose of the Sinovac vaccine under the COVID-19 Vaccination Programme today. Among them, about 2,600 people received the jab at eight community vaccination centres (CVCs), while about 1,400 were inoculated at private doctors and clinics participating in the programme. Around 12,100 people received their second dose of the Sinovac vaccine today, including about 9,700 people vaccinated at CVCs and about 2,400 people through private doctors and clinics.

No virus case in restricted area

The Government announced that the compulsory testing exercise for the restricted area in Jordan finished today with no confirmed COVID-19 case found. It exercised the power under the Prevention & Control of Disease (Compulsory Testing for Certain Persons) Regulation on April 16 to make a restriction-testing declaration to require people within the specified restricted area at Parkes Building, 17-23 Parkes Street to stay in their premises and undergo compulsory testing. The Government also issued a compulsory testing notice to those who had been at the building for more than two hours from April 9 to 16 to undergo mandatory testing by April 18 even if they were not at the building when the declaration took effect. About 80 residents were tested. Starting last night, the Centre for Health Protection has transferred asymptomatic residents of Parkes Building to quarantine centres, while symptomatic residents were sent to hospital for treatment. So far, 81 residents

Police hold passing-out parade

Standing Committee on Disciplined Services Salaries & Conditions of Service Chairman Chui Hong-sheung today inspected the passing-out parade for 36 probationary inspectors and 121 recruit constables at the Police College. Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Chui said Police have contributed significantly to the stability and prosperity of society since its establishment. In the past year, apart from combatting crimes, the force also spared no effort in supporting the Government in the fight against the epidemic, such as implementing quarantine orders and carrying out contact tracing work on confirmed COVID-19 cases. Mr Chui noted that Police’s work is diverse and complex. Over the years, political, legal and social changes have broadened the scope and increased the complexity of policing work, and have impacted the working environment of the force. He said the standing committee is now conducting a Grade Structure Review for the Disciplined Services Grades. It will cons

Sentences are in accordance with law

The Department of Justice today said baseless attacks on sentences imposed by the court, which properly and aptly exercises judicial power independently as guaranteed under the Basic Law, manifest a total disrespect to the rule of law. The department made the statement in response to comments from overseas politicians concerning the sentences imposed by the District Court involving nine defendants who were jointly charged with organising and knowingly taking part in an unauthorised assembly. It said two of the defendants pleaded guilty before trial while the remaining seven were convicted of all the charges by the court on April 1, adding the judge set out the reasons for the verdict in her judgment on the same day, which is publicly available at the Judiciary's website. The judge also stated the sentencing principles in court in imposing the sentences today. The department said the Government has repeatedly pointed out that where a defendant pleads guilty or is fou