The Department of Health (DH) and the Beijing Municipal Health Commission today (December 6) jointly held the Beijing-Hong Kong High-level Symposium on Health Cooperation (the Symposium) via video conferencing. The Symposium is one of the thematic activities under the 24th Beijing-Hong Kong Economic Cooperation Symposium.

     The theme of the Symposium is "Join hands in building healthy cities" at which sharing and discussion between the two places on anti-epidemic work against COVID-19 in the past two years were conducted. The opening ceremony was officiated by the Vice-chairman of the Beijing Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and the Director-General of the Beijing Municipal Health Commission, Mr Yu Luming, and the Director of Health, Dr Ronald Lam, in Beijing and Hong Kong respectively. Dr Lam said, "With the support of the country, Hong Kong overcame four waves of the local COVID-19 outbreak. In particular, we are grateful to the country for mobilising resources to support our various anti-epidemic measures, such as the Universal Community Testing Programme and ensuring a steady supply of vaccines. Through the concerted efforts of the whole community, Hong Kong has maintained a dynamic 'zero infection' for nearly half a year. As of today, Hong Kong recorded a total of 12 467 confirmed cases and 213 death cases. The death rate is among the lowest in the world."

     "The Public Health Laboratory Services Branch of the DH's Centre for Health Protection, as a reference laboratory for COVID-19 designated by the World Health Organization, was the first institute in the world to upload the whole-genome sequences of the Omicron mutant strain to the international genome database GISAID last month, contributing to the global surveillance of variant strains."

     Today's high-level symposium brought together medical and health experts in Beijing and Hong Kong. The Director of Health led representatives of experts in Hong Kong to exchange ideas with Beijing on topics including experiences in guarding against the importation of cases and the resurgence of domestic infections, COVID-19 vaccination programme, as well as the application of smart healthcare and innovation technology. The discussion also focused on the advanced management concept and innovative mindset in promoting the regularising of co-operation in epidemic control, and sharing of the "Big Health" concept, in a bid to strengthen co-operation of Beijing and Hong Kong in healthcare issues.

     Apart from the DH and the Beijing Municipal Health Commission, the Beijing Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the Beijing Hospitals Authority and the Hong Kong Hospital Authority also joined the Symposium.

     Since 2008, the Beijing-Hong Kong Health Cooperation thematic activity has been held 13 times using the Beijing-Hong Kong Economic Cooperation Symposium as a platform. It has also served as an important bridging link and platform for both places to gather wisdom and cultivate talents with mutual benefits in the health realm.

Ends/Monday, December 6, 2021
Issued at HKT 19:45

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