The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, today (February 13) called upon the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health and the Hong Kong International Airport to understand the latest prevention and control measures undertaken to curb the spread of COVID-19, and expressed his heartfelt appreciation to the staff on duty during Chinese New Year holiday.

     "The Government as a whole has been united in fighting against the virus despite all the difficulties. We will continue to keep a close watch of the epidemic situation and strengthen prevention and control measures on all fronts. I appeal to all members of the community to continue to strictly observe the social distancing measures during the Chinese New Year holiday," Mr Cheung said.

     Accompanied by the Secretary for Food and Health, Professor Sophia Chan, and the Controller of CHP, Dr Ronald Lam, Mr Cheung was briefed by the staff of the Home Confinement Support Team, the Operation Command Office, the Emergency Hotline Centre, the Health Promotion Branch, the Quarantine Centre Taskforce and the Emergency Response Centre on their work. Over the past year, the staff of CHP has been working around-the-clock in enhancing contact tracing, strengthening testing capacity, enforcing stringent quarantine arrangements and arousing public awareness on health measures etc, with a view to implementing the Government's infection control strategy of "preventing the importation of cases and the spreading of the virus in the community", striving to achieve the target of "zero infection" as soon as possible.

     Mr Cheung later visited the Hong Kong International Airport. Accompanied by the Chief Executive Officer of the Airport Authority Hong Kong, Mr Fred Lam, and the Executive Director, Airport Operations, of the Airport Authority Hong Kong, Mrs Vivian Cheung, Mr Cheung inspected the terminal enhancement projects in Terminal 1 to learn about the latest progress of the boarding gate transformation and the construction of Sky Bridge.

     Mr Cheung then visited the Airport Dedicated Testing Centres to understand the one-off compulsory COVID-19 testing arrangement for airport staff. It is part of the Government's multi-pronged anti-epidemic strategy targeting the airport community for the protection of the health of the staff and users of the airport. Nearly 70 000 persons are expected to participate in the compulsory testing arrangement from February 4 to 25, 2021. Mr Cheung was briefed that as at February 11, 2021, some 50 000 persons had already been tested. He was impressed with the organised implementation of the testing programme and thanked the Airport Authority for their staunch support for the Government’s anti-epidemic strategy.

     Accompanied by the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations), Mr Raymond Siu, the Deputy Commissioner of Customs and Excise, Ms Louise Ho, and the Deputy Director of Immigration, Mr Chan Tin-chee, Mr Cheung also met with frontline officers of the Police Force, the Customs and Excise Department and the Immigration Department on duty at the airport.

     Mr Cheung took the opportunity to express heartfelt appreciation to the staff on duty during the Chinese New Year holiday for their dedication and hard work. He also wished them good fortune and good health in the Year of the Ox.   

Ends/Saturday, February 13, 2021
Issued at HKT 17:39

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