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The Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr Yeoh Eng-kiong, and the Secretary for Security, Mr Ambrose SK Lee, visited the Lo Wu and Lok Ma Chau control points today (April 30) to inspect the health and immigration measures in place to handle the surge of Mainland visitors during the Labour Day Golden Week beginning on May 1.
About 239,000 Mainland visitors are expected to enter Hong Kong via Lo Wu control point during the holiday, an increase of 292% over last year's 61,000, according to the Immigration Department.
The two secretaries were briefed on the operation of the Joint Command Centre (JCC) at Lo Wu which was jointly manned by the Immigration Department, the Police, Customs and Excise Department, Transport Department, Kowloon and Canton Railway Corporation and the Shenzhen authorities. The JCC will monitor the traffic flow across the boundary and ensure prompt responses are made to incidents.
They then proceeded to the Visitor Clearance Hall to see port health and immigration staff working together to guard the first line of defence against a possible introduction of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) into Hong Kong while providing efficient immigration services.
Since the notification of SARS cases in Beijing and Anhui province recently, the Department of Health has stepped up port health measures by deploying extra port health staff to distribute alert cards to passengers arriving from Beijing and Anhui by air or rail and to check for passengers displaying SARS symptoms. Mandatory health declarations and stringent temperature screening checks for all passengers are still in place.
To step up health surveillance on the anticipated increase in passengers during the Labour Day holidays, the DH has deployed 26 additional health surveillance assistants to reinforce frontline health checks at various control points.
"In view of the high volume of visitors, it is important that the health sector heightens the alertness and preparedness to tackle any situation that may arise.
"We are acting prudently by asking our port health staff to keep watching out for visitors who show SARS symptoms," Dr Yeoh said.
The DH had already worked out arrangements with the Hospital Authority regarding the handling of visitors detected with high fever and other symptoms related to SARS at the boundary control points, he added.
Dr Yeoh noted that the Tourism Commission and the Travel Industry Council had also reminded the travel trade to comply with the SARS guidelines issued by the DH.
"I would also like to call on both visitors and Hong Kong residents returning from their trips to promptly seek medical consultation if they feel unwell," Dr Yeoh said.
Speaking after the visit, the Secretary for Security said he was confident that everything was in gear at the boundary control points to handle the expected increase of passenger flow during the Labour Day holidays.
"I am sure that with the experience that we have gained from the previous Golden Week holidays, the departments concerned are getting well prepared to receive and cope with the large volume of passengers.
"Frontline staff of the Immigration Department will strictly collaborate with the Department of Health in executing the various precautionary measures against SARS," he said.
To cope with the extra demand, the Immigration Department has arranged for 320 additional officers to reinforce the boundary control points through internal deployment.
The Immigration Department and the Shenzhen authorities will also strengthen their cooperation and liaison to ensure smooth and orderly movement across the boundary.
In addition, the Civil Aid Service will increase manpower to assist in crowd control at Lo Wu control point from today to May 2.
Ends/Friday, April 30, 2004
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