Donna Tomky
Jan 1, 2005; 18:39-44
Articles

Curtis Triplitt
Oct 1, 2006; 19:202-211
Pharmacy Update

Stephen L. Aronoff
Jul 1, 2004; 17:183-190
Feature Articles

Geralyn Spollett
Jan 1, 2003; 16:
Case Studies

The Government is set to revive the economy through different measures and everyone should act together to attain this goal.

Secretary for Financial Services & the Treasury Christopher Hui made the remarks today after attending a radio programme, saying the economy has been seriously affected by the epidemic.

“I think right now the immediate priority is definitely to revive the economy because after all, we have been subjected to many restrictions on all you can imagine in the past few months due to COVID-19.

“So the immediate priority is really for us to act together to revive the economy through different measures.

“And the measures that are subject to the Legislative Council’s approval as you have seen over the past few days, I think are definitely something that we want to do in order to provide a sort of foundation for our economic recovery.”

The Government today announced the mechanism for Hong Kong enterprises with manufacturing operations in the Mainland to apply for exemption from the compulsory quarantine arrangement. 

It said the Trade & Industry Department has started processing applications.

The Chief Secretary may designate anybody or category of people for exemption from quarantine if their travelling is necessary for purposes relating to manufacturing operations in the interest of Hong Kong's economic development.

With effect from May 4, the Chief Secretary has exempted two categories of people from the quarantine arrangement.

They include owners of Hong Kong enterprises with a valid business registration certificate and with manufacturing operations in the Mainland and up to one person employed and authorised by the enterprise, as well as up to two people employed and authorised by such an enterprise.

Exempted people must only travel to and stay in the city where the Mainland factory of their Hong Kong enterprise's manufacturing operations is located and must take every precautionary measure to ensure personal hygiene and avoid unnecessary social contact. 

After returning to Hong Kong, they will be subject to medical surveillance arranged by the Department of Health during their stay in Hong Kong and will be required to wear masks and have their body temperatures checked daily.

They will also have to report any discomfort to the Department of Health.

Click here for more information.

(To watch the whole media session with sign language interpretation, click here.)

Hong Kong's economy in the first quarter of 2020 contracted 8.9% over a year earlier, the largest decline on record since 1974.

The Census & Statistics Department announced the findings today as it released advance estimates on Gross Domestic Product for the first quarter.

Addressing the media today, Financial Secretary Paul Chan noted the economic recession deepened in Hong Kong in the first quarter of 2020.

“Although locally, the epidemic situation seems to be under control, but the external environment is still very challenging. Globally, the epidemic is yet to be put under complete control. That will affect our exports. That will also affect international travelling and business investments. 

“So, going forward in the second quarter, we believe that even if there is improvement, the improvement will be gradual and small.”

According to those estimates, private consumption expenditure decreased 10.2% in real terms in the first quarter from a year earlier, deteriorating from the 2.9% decline in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Government consumption expenditure grew 8.3% year-on-year, after the increase of 6.1% in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Gross domestic fixed capital formation dropped by 13.9%, compared with the decrease of 16.8% in the previous quarter.

Over the same period, total exports of goods declined 9.7% and imports of goods also fell 10.9%.

Exports of services dropped 37.8% and imports of services decreased 25.4%.

Mr Chan called on people to work together to promote economic development by consumption.

“If we are able to work together, if we can unite together - not just to fight the virus, but to stimulate consumption to promote economic development - I think the economic situation will be able to stabilise somewhat in the second quarter. 

“If the global epidemic situation improves, we will be able to come out of recession gradually towards the end of this year. 

“I will appeal to our people's support for us to roll out various measures in the Anti-epidemic Fund - round one and round two - as well as the relief packages in the 2020-21 Budget as soon as possible.

“Many of those initiatives are still yet to be implemented. Upon full implementation of those measures, I think the positive impact on the economy would be better felt by the community. We will be monitoring the situation carefully.”

The Government stands ready to roll out additional measures to support Hong Kong people and the businesses, Mr Chan added.

The Commerce & Economic Development Bureau today announced that the subsidy quota for three mask production lines have been reassigned.

Three production lines, previously approved under the Local Mask Production Subsidy Scheme, have withdrawn from the scheme, the Government said.

The subsidy quota concerned has been allocated to SDL Skin (Asia), Safeguard HK and SwissTech.

SDL Skin (Asia) has been approved for obtaining a subsidy for a second production line and is expected to supply an average of 1.6 million masks every month to the Government. The production line may receive a subsidy of up to $1 million.

Safeguard HK has been approved for obtaining a subsidy for one production line and is expected to supply an average of 500,000 masks to the Government every month. The production line may receive up to $2 million.

SwissTech has been approved for obtaining a subsidy for one production line and is expected to supply an average of 2 million masks every month to the Government and produce a further 1 million masks on average monthly for the local market.

The production line may receive up to $3 million.

It is estimated that when all 20 subsidised lines under the scheme are in full production, they will collectively supply 33.85 million masks to the Government and a further 7.15 million to the local market monthly.

The companies which withdrew from the scheme were CareHK and Shang Manufactory.

The Government did not sign agreements with or make disbursements to these firms.

The 2020 honours and awards selection and appointment of Justices of the Peace (JPs) exercise will be postponed, as well as the announcement of the list of honours and awards and JP appointments, the Government announced today.

It decided to defer the exercise to accord top priority to the ongoing anti-epidemic work and implementation of measures to retain employment, support businesses and ease people's livelihood in the face of challenges arising from the COVID-19 epidemic.

The Honours List and JP appointments will be announced on October 1 instead of July 1 as in previous years, the Government added.

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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 Government will launch the Subsidy Scheme for Beauty Parlours, Massage Establishments & Party Rooms under the second round of the Anti-epidemic Fund on May 11.

A sum of $1.1 billion has been earmarked for the scheme, which is expected to benefit 12,400 beauty parlours and massage establishments as well as 500 party rooms.

The subsidy is expected to be disbursed from late this month.

Under the scheme, each eligible beauty parlour or massage establishment will receive a one-off tiered subsidy of $30,000, $60,000 or $100,000, depending on its number of workers.

Each eligible party room will receive a one-off subsidy of $40,000.

Applications will only be accepted online. The application deadline is May 17.

The scheme also covers premises which are operated by social enterprises.

For premises with business registration, social enterprise operators should file their applications through the online application system.

Those without business registration should directly approach the Hong Kong Council of Social Service at 2864 2993 or by email to obtain its certification and submit their applications.

Call 1836 188 or send an email for enquiries.

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.)

updated April 1, 2020

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