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Apr exports value down 13%

The value of Hong Kong's total exports decreased to $338.3 billion in April, down 13% on the same month last year, the Census & Statistics Department announced today.   The value of imports of goods decreased 11.9% to $374.9 billion for the same period.   A trade deficit of $36.6 billion, or 9.8% of the value of imports, was recorded in April.   Comparing the three-month period ending April with the preceding three months on a seasonally adjusted basis, the value of exports rose 15.4%, while that of imports increased 10.7%.   The Government noted that the value of merchandise exports declined further from a year earlier in April. Exports to the Mainland, the US and the European Union all shrank and exports to other major Asian markets recorded decreases of varying degrees.   Looking ahead, it added that the weakness in the advanced economies will continue to weigh on Hong Kong's export performance, though the expected faster recovery of the Mainland economy should

Jab case updates issued

The Department of Health said that in the preceding week ending October 24, it received 33 reports of adverse events following COVID-19 immunisation.   Among them, no death case was reported by the Hospital Authority involving individuals who had received vaccines within 14 days before they died and had potential association with vaccination.   As at October 24, around 8.98 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been administered to the public.   The department received 6,250 reports of adverse events, 47 of which are death cases with vaccination within 14 days. The figures represented 0.07% and 0.0005% of the total vaccine doses administered. None of the death cases was associated with vaccination.   The Expert Committee on Clinical Events Assessment Following COVID-19 Immunisation concluded that 26 death cases had no causal relationship with vaccination, and preliminarily considered that 19 cases were not associated with vaccination. The remaining two are pending assessment.   The committee also considered that there is no unusual pattern identified so far.   According to information from the authority, during the period from September 27 to October 24, the ratio of death cases out of those without a vaccination record was 112.6 cases for every 100,000 people, whereas the ratio of death cases for those with a vaccination record was 5.8 cases for every 100,000 people. The overall death rate is similar to that recorded in the past three years.   Out of those without a vaccination record, the ratio of death cases with acute stroke or acute myocardial infarction was 5.5 cases for every 100,000 people, whereas the ratio of death cases under the same category for those with a vaccination record was 0.5 cases for every 100,000 people.   Furthermore, the ratio of miscarriage cases out of those without a vaccination record was 32.5 cases for every 100,000 people, whereas the ratio of miscarriage cases for those who had a vaccination record was 10.4 cases for every 100,000 people.   Based on the statistical analysis of the above figures, there is no evidence that vaccination increases the risk of death or miscarriage for recipients.   The relevant reference statistics will be uploaded to the COVID-19 Vaccination Programme thematic website.   The majority of non-death cases of adverse events received so far are relatively minor ones, details of which can be found here.
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