Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Innovation and Technology, Mr Alfred Sit, at a media session after attending a radio programme today (March 2):
 
Reporter: So, as people can start booking BioNTech jabs tomorrow, what is the Government doing to prevent the vaccination booking website from being overwhelmed? And the second question is about the "LeaveHomeSafe" app; would there be any improvements made to the app? And also, how feasible is it to apply this app on MTR and do you have the plan to cover all transportations for this app?
 
Secretary for Innovation and Technology: For the vaccination booking system, we understand very well that people would like to have the vaccination as soon as possible. But the problem here is that the supply of vaccination at the beginning is still limited, so please be patient. For tomorrow, we have already enhanced our system to increase the handling capacity, but I would expect there would still be some possibility that there will be some waiting time. For example, yesterday people had to wait for some time, at the very beginning, one to two hours, so please be patient. We do have sufficient vaccinations to be provided to all people in Hong Kong. For the time being, please be patient and we are going to offer every citizen in Hong Kong the vaccination.
 
     For the "LeaveHomeSafe" app, we are going to have some improvements, in particular, some people telling us that it is a bit time-consuming in scanning the QR codes. So, we are going to have some improvements. We are exploring with the University of Hong Kong and other universities like the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, to provide some sort of system so that we can have automatic scanning, and we need not stop and scan the QR codes. When you pass by the QR codes with the new device provided, they can then automatically log some sort of information to your phones to record your travelling history. As regards the coverage of the transportation system, we are going to promote it. It depends very much on the Centre for Health Protection to see whether it is necessary to have that coverage. We are going to provide all sorts of technical support to our colleagues. Thank you.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)

Ends/Tuesday, March 2, 2021
Issued at HKT 12:45

NNNN