A group of technologists has led crowdsourcing efforts to create a single repository of information for specialists fighting the Coronavirus outbreak. Techworld speaks with founder Edward Saperia to hear more about how collaboration tools can help the efforts

The 'unicorn letter', sent by some of the best-funded private technology companies in the country, asks the chancellor to form an urgent taskforce to give them access to government-backed lending schemes during the pandemic

The virtual-based office hours is to connect female founders with early-stage VC investors who will provide business advice and investments

The US-based 'startup studio' will launched a London office to welcome European startups

The digital challenger bank is now the most switched to bank in the UK as Nationwide Building Society loses its long-held top spot

Companies with large numbers of furloughed workers are offering staff an introductory course in JavaScript coding, thanks to the European coding bootcamp, Codeworks.

The Housing Authority’s Commercial Properties Committee today approved the extension of rent concessions to over 8,300 non-domestic tenants or licensees for six months from April 1 to September 30.

The authority had earlier granted a 50% rent concession to its eligible retail and factory tenants for six months from April 1.

Under the extension, their rent concession will be increased to 75% over the same period with retrospective effect from April 1. The rent concession does not include rates and air-conditioning charges.

The authority said such further measures are to support the Government's new series of measures announced in early April to relieve the financial burden of individuals and businesses.

A total of 2,450 retail and 3,300 factory tenants will benefit from the approved increase in the rent concession.

The 75% rent concession will also be extended to cover tenants and licensees of bus kiosks and most advertising signboards, as well as car park users for the monthly parking of commercial vehicles.

About 40 tenancies for bus kiosks, 80 advertising signboards and about 2,500 car park users stand to benefit from the concession.

Tenants of premises in the authority's properties which are required to be closed under relevant regulations or the Government's directions, may also apply to the authority for a 100% rent concession for the period during which they are required to be closed.

The authority added that the approved measures will be implemented as soon as possible. For rent and licence fees already paid for the months of April and May, arrangements will be made for offsetting in the payment for subsequent months.

The committee has approved three rounds of rent concessions since last September. Together with this round, the total rent and licence fees foregone by the authority is estimated to reach more than $1 billion.

The Immigration Department announced today that the operation of all nine Smart Identity Card Replacement Centres will be fully resumed on May 11 in light of the more stabilised epidemic situation.

The department earlier suspended the replacement of Hong Kong identity cards at the centres to avoid the increased risk of spreading COVID-19.

To arrange for people affected by the service suspension to replace their identity cards in an orderly manner, the Secretary for Security has made an amendment order to revise the replacement period for people born in 1957 to 1963 and 1970 to 1976 and the arrangement for members of the sixth term of District Councils.

Click here for the arrangements.

If the replacement of identity cards needs to be suspended again in the future to cope with a sudden turn of the epidemic situation, the amendment order also provides that if all the centres are not in service for a period of 21 working days or more from May 11 to July 27 for public health reasons, the specified period for the above people will be further extended or amended.

The amendment order will be tabled at the Legislative Council on May 13 for negative vetting.

To reduce crowd gatherings, applicants who have not made appointments previously should do so via the Internet, the department’s mobile application or the 24-hour hotline at 2121 1234.

The department also appealed to applicants to pre-fill the application form when making appointments through the Internet or mobile application.

For details click here or call 2824 6111.

Hong Kong’s foreign currency reserve assets rose to US$441.2 billion in April from March’s US$437.6 billion, the Monetary Authority announced today.

The reserve assets represent over six times the currency in circulation or about 46% of Hong Kong dollar M3.

Including unsettled foreign exchange contracts, the foreign currency reserve assets at the end of April increased to US$440.7 billion from March’s US$437.6 billion.

About $31 million in funding has been given to support 79 projects under the special round of the Public Policy Research (PPR) Funding Scheme, the Government announced today.

A total of 210 applications were received for the special round, which was launched last November to fund local research institutions and think tanks to research topics relating to the underlying causes of the social incidents that took place in the second half of 2019.

The research may also cover important political, economic, cultural and societal issues relating to deep-seated problems of society.

Assessment of the applications received under the special round was conducted by the independent assessment panel chaired by and comprising experienced academics.

The research quality of the proposal and relevance to the themes of the special round were the principal assessment criteria, with consideration given to factors such as whether the research proposal was solution-oriented, feasible and practical, whether the methodology was reasonable and sound, the applicant’s capability and whether the proposed budget was cost-effective. 

The assessment panel took a holistic view on each research proposal, reached a collective decision and made recommendations, the Policy Innovation & Co-ordination Office said, adding that a declaration of interest system was in place to ensure the assessments were fair and impartial.

In general, a sum of up to $500,000 has been granted to each approved project under the special round.

The approved projects have commenced progressively and are expected to be completed by the end of the year, with the first batch to be completed in late September to early October.

Click here for details of the funded projects.

Police today said it is highly concerned about recent criminal offences involving police officers and that a number of these officers have been arrested.

Among them, officers in connection with serious offences have been or will be interdicted.

The force said it is furious and disappointed about the officers who are suspected of having breached the law and that the incidents have impaired public confidence in Police.

Police attach the utmost importance to the discipline and integrity of officers.

All officers, irrespective of their ranks, must abide by the law at all times.

Police management has zero tolerance towards any acts that breach the law or discipline by police officers, it added.

The force also said it attaches great importance to the integrity of its officers.

The Complaints & Internal Investigations Branch formulated the Integrated Integrity Management Framework to promote integrity and honesty among officers as well as to regulate their discipline and conduct.

To avoid similar incidents, Police said its management is reviewing the force’s internal management strategy.

Police reiterated that no bad element in the force can be tolerated.

If an officer is suspected of having breached the law or committed a breach of discipline, Police will conduct an investigation according to the established mechanism and take appropriate actions.

Karin Melnick of the University of Maryland, College Park, has been awarded the AMS Joan and Joseph Birman Fellowship for Women Scholars for the 2020–2021 academic year.

Melnick’s research is on differential-geometric aspects of rigidity. This work comprises global and local results relating the automorphisms of a differential-geometric structure with the geometric and topological properties of the space. Melnick also works in smooth dynamics, in which an invariant differential-geometric structure plays an important role in the proof of rigidity theorems. Melnick is a leader in research on the Lorentzian Lichnerowicz conjecture, a statement about conformal transformations of compact Lorentzian manifolds. Together with collaborators, she has developed new techniques in the setting of Cartan connections that have facilitated progress on this problem, as well as many results for other differential-geometric structures and general parabolic Cartan geometries.  

Brief Biography of Karin Melnick:

Melnick received her PhD at the University of Chicago in 2006 under the direction of Benson Farb. With an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, she went to Yale University as a Gibbs Assistant Professor. She received a Junior Research Fellowship from the Erwin Schrödinger Institute in the spring of 2009 and that fall began at the University of Maryland, where she is now an associate professor. Previously, Melnick has been awarded an AMS Centennial Fellowship and an NSF CAREER grant. She divides her time between the U.S. and Germany with her partner and their young child, and is very grateful for the flexibility provided by the Birman Fellowship and the opportunities it provides to advance her research and career goals.  

About the Fellowship:

Established in 2017, the AMS Joan and Joseph Birman Fellowship for Women Scholars seeks to give exceptionally talented women extra research support during their mid-career years. The primary selection criterion for the Birman Fellowship, which carries a stipend of US$50,000, is the excellence of the candidate’s research. Read an interview with Joan Birman about her decision to create the Fellowship with the goal of "helping more women mathematicians to develop their creative voices." See more information about the Fellowship.

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The American Mathematical Society is dedicated to advancing research and connecting the diverse global mathematical community through our publications, meetings and conferences, MathSciNet, professional services, advocacy, and awareness programs.

17 individuals in the mathematical sciences are among the 126 new members and foreign associates elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in 2020.

Members: Ivet Bahar, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine; Abhijit Banerjee, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Gerard Ben Arous, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University; Bonnie Berger, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Laura G. DeMarco, Northwestern University; Ronald Fagin, IBM Almaden Research Center; Katherine Freese, The University of Texas at Austin; Dennis Gaitsgory, Harvard University; Robert L. Griess, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Jacob Lurie, Institute for Advanced Study; Terence T. Hwa, University of California, San Diego; Wilfried Schmid, Harvard University; Jeffrey D. Ullman, Stanford University; Lai-Sang Young, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University; and Ofer Zeitouni, Weizmann Institute of Science; Foreign Associates: Yoav Benjamini, Tel Aviv University (Israel) and Jürg Fröhlich, ETH Zurich (Switzerland). Berger, DeMarco, Griess, Schmid, and Zeitouni are members of the AMS and Fellows of the AMS. Fagin is a member of the AMS.

The NAS recognizes achievement in science by election to membership, and—along with the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Medicine—provides science, engineering, and health policy advice to the federal government and other organizations. See the full list of this year's honorees. (Image courtesy of the National Academy of Sciences.)

Below, Mac Hyman, Tulane University, talks about types of mathematical models--their strengths and weaknesses--the data that we currently have and what we really need, and what models can tell us about a possible second wave.

At the beginning of the video, he thanks the mathematics community for its work, and near the end says, "Our mathematical community is really playing a central role in helping to predict the spread, and help mitigate this epidemic, and prioritize our efforts. …Do not underestimate the power that mathematics can have in helping to mitigate this epidemic—-we have a role to play."

See the full set of videos on modeling COVID-19 and see media coverage of mathematics' role in modeling the pandemic.

updated April 1, 2020

In response to current challenges that colleges and universities face as a result of the spread of COVID-19, the American Mathematical Society is offering libraries and institutions additional support, in line with recommendations in the ICOLC Statement on the Global COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Impact on Library Services and Resources.

The AMS is also participating in the Copyright Clearance Center Education Continuity License program, providing access to our content for distance learning and other educational uses at no cost to the user.

We are extending grace access for content hosted on our platforms (including MathSciNet) through the end of May for our existing customers. We will re-evaluate this timing as needed.

As courses transition to online, we can provide instructors with complimentary electronic “reserve” copies of our textbooks for cases in which students do not have access to their print copies.

E-books purchased through the perpetual access model on the AMS platform are always available DRM-free with unlimited simultaneous use. In addition, we are partnering with ProQuest to allow multi-user access through mid-June to all e-books purchased on their platforms. Read ProQuest’s statement.

We are providing remote access to all our content, including MathSciNet. In normal circumstances, this remote access can be set up while on campus or while connected via institution VPN (in order to validate IP-based access). We realize many students, faculty, and researchers did not have an opportunity to initiate this access before leaving campus, so we have given instructions to our library partners on how patrons can connect to our content. Please contact your librarian for assistance.

Libraries: if you have not received instructions to share with your patrons, please email us at cust-serv@ams.org or be in touch about any other of your library’s needs.

Review all AMS Resources & Updates.

(University of South Florida (USF Health)) A new preclinical study by researchers at the University of South Florida Health (USF Health) Morsani College of Medicine and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine offers promise of a specific treatment for NEC, a rare inflammatory bowel disease that is a leading cause of death in premature infants. The team found that inhibiting the inflammatory and blood-clotting molecule thrombin with targeted nanotherapy can protect against NEC-like injury in newborn mice.

(University of Jyväskylä - Jyväskylän yliopisto) Researchers at the universities of Jyvaskyla and Xiamen discovered a novel way to make functional macroscopic crystalline materials out of nanometer-size 34-atom silver-gold intermetallic clusters. The cluster material has a highly anisotropic electrical conductivity, being a semiconductor in one direction and an electrical insulator in other directions. The research was published in Nature Communications on May 6, 2020.

(University of Illinois Grainger College of Engineering) Three Nick Holonyak Jr., Micro and Nanotechnology Lab (HMNTL) faculty members received NSF Rapid Response Research (RAPID) program grants, all of which aim to shorten the amount of time it takes to process a COVID-19 test with less false negatives. Current tests can take as long as five days for results to be.

(Georgia Institute of Technology) The science behind sticky gecko's feet lets gecko adhesion materials pick up about anything. But cost-effective mass production of the materials was out of reach until now. A new method of making them could usher the spread of gecko-inspired grabbers to assembly lines and homes.

(Johannes Gutenberg Universitaet Mainz) Scientists at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) and the Helmholtz Institute Mainz (HIM) in Germany have presented a non-contact method for detecting the state of charge and any defects in lithium-ion batteries.

The Centre for Health Protection announced that as of 4pm today, no new COVID-19 cases have been recorded, leaving the number of confirmed cases in Hong Kong at 1,040 so far.

The centre again urged members of the public to maintain an appropriate social distance with other people in their daily lives to minimise the risk of infection.

People should go out less and avoid social activities such as having meals out or other gatherings to minimise the risk of coronavirus clusters emerging in the community.

As the COVID-19 situation remains severe and the number of cases reported around the world continues to rise, people are strongly urged to avoid all non-essential travel outside Hong Kong as well as maintain strict personal and environmental hygiene at all times.

Additionally, the Hospital Authority reported that there are currently 142 patients under isolation and that 920 patients have been discharged upon recovery.

For information and health advice on COVID-19, visit the Government's dedicated webpage.

(To watch the full press conference with sign language interpretation, click here.)

Chief Executive Carrie Lam today said because Hong Kong has not reported a local COVID-19 case for over two weeks and imported cases are low, some anti-epidemic measures can be lifted.

During a press conference, Mrs Lam outlined that unlike some European countries, Hong Kong did not need to go into lockdown to contain the spread of the disease.

“Hong Kong has never gone into a stage of a complete city lockdown. In some of the European countries where they practise a city lockdown, residents are simply not allowed to leave their homes, except for some very essential purposes. But we have never adopted that practice.

“And in fact, many renowned experts are now trying to study our situation - why does Hong Kong succeed in keeping the confirmed cases at a low level without drastic measures like a complete city lockdown. And I do think that is a very interesting topic for further research.”

Mrs Lam noted that the Government had adopted the “suppress and lift” strategy under which restrictions are implemented and lifted in accordance with the infection situation.

“The strategy that Hong Kong has been adopting - and advocated by some of our experts - is what we call a ‘suppress and lift strategy’.

“So in light of the number of confirmed cases and likelihood of the spread of the disease in the community, we will have to suppress in order to make sure that there will be no surge in the number of confirmed cases as we have seen in some neighbouring regions.

“When the situation of the infection stabilises, that is the time for lifting, that is, loosening a bit so that society can operate more normally, especially for the businesses and for individuals’ behaviour.”

The Chief Executive said the Government still needed to monitor the COVID-19 situation closely, even though it was in the stage of lifting restrictions.

“We are now right in the stage of lifting because we have not had a local case for 16 days already and the number of imported cases is very, very low.

“We are now quite confident that the system of testing and holding that we have put in place for all arrivals from overseas would enable us to control the number of imported cases. So this is a time for lifting and this afternoon we have announced a number of lifting measures.

“If the situation continues to stay at the current level - no local cases, very few imported cases - then at the end of the 14-day period, that is May 22, of course that would be the time for more relaxation.”

Mrs Lam added that if a local case suddenly surfaced, Hong Kong may have to go back to some suppression measures, which was why the Government had to monitor the situation closely so it could take the necessary and pertinent response measures.

(To watch the full press conference with sign language interpretation, click here.)

The relaxation of anti-epidemic measures is a step in the right direction, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said today.

Mrs Lam made the statement at a press conference this afternoon.

She said the Government will relax the requirement limiting group gatherings in public places to a maximum of four people. Starting from Friday, up to eight people can gather in public places.

"So raising the number from four to eight for the catering business and also for the prohibition against group gatherings under Cap 599G is not an exact science, but this is a step in the right direction of relaxation.

"Maybe in another 14 days’ time we will raise the number of eight to 10, to 12, to 15 and so on."

Regarding bars and pubs, Mrs Lam said these venues will be able to reopen but the Government will put in place requirements to prevent physical interactions.

"We have decided that perhaps to strike a pragmatic balance is to allow them to reopen for business but to put in far more stringent requirements."

Such requirements include no live music, band performances or dancing in bar premises.

"That would be another way to keep the social distance and prevent as much as possible physical interactions."

Click here for the latest measures.

(To watch the full press conference with sign language interpretation, click here.)

Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung today said the Government is confident that classes can resume on May 27.

Mr Yeung made the statement at a press conference this afternoon.

He said: “We are not announcing class resumption right away. We are giving advance notice of about three weeks for all the stakeholders to get prepared for the school resumption.”

The Government will continue to monitor the situation during this period and adjust the school resumption plan if necessary, he added.

"At this stage we are still pretty confident that we should be able to resume classes on May 27."

The Centre for Health Protection announced that as of 4pm today, no new COVID-19 cases have been recorded, leaving the number of confirmed cases in Hong Kong at 1,040 so far.

The centre again urged members of the public to maintain an appropriate social distance with other people to minimise the risk of infection.

People should go out less and avoid social activities such as having meals out or other gatherings to minimise the risk of coronavirus clusters emerging in the community.

As the COVID-19 situation remains severe and the number of cases reported around the world continues to rise, people are strongly urged to avoid all non-essential travel outside Hong Kong as well as maintain strict personal and environmental hygiene at all times.

Additionally, the Hospital Authority reported that there are currently 127 patients under isolation and that 932 patients have been discharged upon recovery.

For information and health advice on COVID-19, visit the Government's dedicated webpage.

The Centre for Health Protection today announced it is investigating four additional confirmed COVID-19 cases.

The newly reported cases involve four males aged between 11 and 47. All of them travelled during the incubation period.

Epidemiological investigations and relevant contact tracing on the confirmed cases are ongoing.

The centre again urged the public to maintain an appropriate social distance from other people as much as possible to minimise the risk of infection.

People should go out less and avoid social activities such as having meals out or other gatherings to minimise the risk of outbreak clusters emerging in the community.

As the COVID-19 situation remains severe and the number of cases reported around the world continues to rise, people are strongly advised to avoid all non-essential travel outside Hong Kong as well as maintain strict personal and environmental hygiene at all times.

Additionally, the Hospital Authority reported that there are currently 120 patients under isolation and that 944 patients have been discharged upon recovery.

For information and health advice on COVID-19, visit the Government's dedicated webpage.

(To watch the full press briefing with sign language interpretation, click here.)

A recovered COVID-19 patient has tested positive for the virus again, the Hospital Authority announced today.

The authority’s Chief Manager (Quality & Standards) Dr Lau Ka-hin told a media briefing this afternoon that the patient was first admitted to Queen Mary Hospital on March 24 after having fever for a week. He subsequently tested positive for COVID-19.

He was discharged on April 16 after two consecutive negative tests for the virus.

Dr Lau said: "The patient presented to the Accident & Emergency Department of Queen Mary Hospital on May 5 because of some abdominal pain and diarrhoea.

"He was admitted to our hospital and was found to have a positive result for COVID-19 in the throat saliva, but the cycle threshold value is very high - nearly 36.

"The experts consider that this is the residual virus left in the patient’s body, which is not infective, and it is not likely to be a reinfection at this moment."

He added that the patient is in a stable condition.

Premises can still operate other licensed businesses which are not required to be suspended if they were operating more than one licensed business before the closure, the Food & Health Bureau said today.

The bureau made the statement in response to media enquiries on some anti-epidemic measures which were relaxed from today.

The statement noted that in accordance with the Prevention & Control of Disease (Requirements & Directions) (Business & Premises) Regulation, the Secretary for Food & Health has issued directions by notices in the Gazette that certain scheduled premises, namely karaoke establishments, clubs or nightclubs, party rooms and bathhouses, should remain closed until May 21.

These scheduled premises may still operate other licensed businesses if the operators have implemented all measures to effectively stop or avoid operation of businesses and offering services which are required to be suspended.

For example, premises originally operated as karaoke establishments and catering businesses can continue their catering business in accordance with the relevant directions if all karaoke operation and services are suspended.

The directions state that facilities, installations and equipment for karaoke activities are closed or properly sealed off and notices are posted in prominent locations at the entrances clearly indicating that only catering services but no karaoke services are provided in the premises.

Other scheduled premises operating more than one licensed business can adopt similar measures to operate other licensed businesses which are not required to be suspended, the bureau added.

The Centre for Health Protection announced that as of 4pm today, no new COVID-19 cases have been recorded, leaving the number of confirmed cases in Hong Kong at 1,044 so far.

The centre again urged members of the public to maintain an appropriate social distance with other people to minimise the risk of infection.

It said people should go out less and avoid social activities such as having meals out or other gatherings to minimise the risk of coronavirus clusters emerging in the community.

As the COVID-19 situation remains severe and the number of cases reported around the world continues to rise, people are strongly urged to avoid all non-essential travel outside Hong Kong as well as maintain strict personal and environmental hygiene.

Additionally, the Hospital Authority reported that there are currently 109 patients under isolation and that 960 patients have been discharged upon recovery.

For information and health advice on COVID-19, visit the Government's dedicated webpage.

The Centre for Health Protection announced that as of 4pm today, no new COVID-19 cases have been recorded, leaving the number of confirmed cases in Hong Kong at 1,044 so far.

The centre again urged the public to maintain an appropriate social distance with other people to minimise the risk of infection.

It said people should go out less and avoid social activities such as having meals out or other gatherings to minimise the risk of coronavirus clusters emerging in the community.

As the COVID-19 situation remains severe and the number of cases reported around the world continues to rise, people are strongly urged to avoid all non-essential travel outside Hong Kong as well as maintain strict personal and environmental hygiene.

Additionally, the Hospital Authority reported that there are currently 90 patients under isolation and that 967 patients have been discharged upon recovery.

For information and health advice on COVID-19, visit the Government's dedicated webpage.

"In his new book--The Math of Life & Death: 7 Mathematical Principles that Shape Our Lives--mathematician Kit Yates makes complex mathematical concepts easily accessible to anyone, and which can improve decision making in an increasingly quantitative society. In this Q&A, Yates discusses why math is relevant to everyday life." See "Mathematician Kit Yates on Anti Vaxxer Movement, Air Travel Germs and Samoa's Measles Outbreak," by Meredith Wold Schizer, Newsweek, December 23, 2019.