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The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government continues to closely monitor the Fukushima nuclear incident. Various departments are keeping track of radiation levels in Hong Kong's air and fresh water, and in food and imported products from Japan, round the clock. The latest monitoring results for the 24 hours until noon today (April 20) from the relevant departments are as follows:
Radiation level in Hong Kong
According to the Hong Kong Observatory, the radiation level in Hong Kong remained normal in the past 24 hours.
No artificial radionuclide was detected from air samples collected at King's Park and Yuen Ng Fan from noon on April 18 to noon on April 19.
A very minute amount of artificial radionuclide Iodine-131 was detected from the weekly air sample collected at Sha Tau Kok between April 12 and 19. As the amount of radioactive iodine detected was very small and will not affect public health, no precautionary measures are required.
Water safety
The Water Supplies Department continues to monitor the radioactivity level of Dongjiang water supplied to Hong Kong, raw water from impounding reservoirs and fresh water. In the past 24 hours, the monitoring results showed no observable change in the radioactivity level of all samples. The radiological quality of fresh water remains normal and safe.
Sea and air cargo
The Hong Kong Customs continues to select cargoes imported from Japan for inspection, including pharmaceutical products, cosmetics and personal hygiene products. In the past 24 hours, Customs has checked 9,061 air consignments and 111 sea containers, including three consignments of pharmaceutical products and 12 consignments of cosmetics. No irregularities have been detected so far.
Food safety
The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department continues to collect samples from local fish culture zones and fish wholesale markets under the Fish Marketing Organisation for radiological testing on a daily basis. In the past 24 hours, results of all collected samples were satisfactory.
The Centre for Food Safety of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department has examined 162 food samples imported from Japan, comprising 42 samples by air and 120 samples by sea, in the past 24 hours. Samples included aquatic products, vegetables, fruits, meat, meat products and others. All examined samples were satisfactory.
Assistance to Hong Kong residents
The Assistance to Hong Kong Residents Unit of the Immigration Department (ImmD) has not received any new request for assistance during the past 24 hours. There are still two persons believed to be in Japan who cannot be contacted. The ImmD will continue to follow up.
For more relevant statistics and information, please visit "Japan Earthquake - Information for Residents" at the GovHK website, www.gov.hk.
Ends/Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Issued at HKT 18:01
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