The Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr Patrick Nip, visited the Inland Revenue Department and the Labour Department today (May 4) to inspect their resumption of public services. 

     The Government has announced earlier that public services will be resumed under a phased approach starting from today. Counter services of most government departments, including the Inland Revenue Department and the Labour Department, have returned to normal. 

     Mr Nip first visited the Inland Revenue Department in Revenue Tower, where he was briefed by the Commissioner of Inland Revenue, Mr Wong Kuen-fai, on counter services at the Central Enquiry Counter, the Business Registration Office and the Stamp Office which have resumed normal business hours today.

     Mr Nip learnt that the department has implemented various infection control and crowd management measures, such as a ticketing system, to safeguard the health of colleagues and the public. To reduce social contact, the department has also encouraged the public to send documents to it by post and use its electronic services to handle their tax matters as much as possible.

     Later, Mr Nip, accompanied by the Assistant Commissioner for Labour (Employment Services), Mr Charles Hui, visited the Hong Kong East Job Centre and a recruitment centre for the catering industry and the retail industry, and he was briefed on the resumption of normal services at job centres and recruitment centres of the Labour Department. Mr Nip also learnt about the social distancing measures and measures to regulate the flow of people, such as arranging interviews by appointments.

     "While maintaining a high degree of vigilance and adopting all necessary precautionary measures, the Government gradually resumed public services today in a smooth and orderly manner," Mr Nip said. 

     "Various infection control measures have been put in place at government buildings and offices. These include checking the body temperature of persons at entrances, providing alcohol-based hand sanitiser and enhancing the cleaning of public facilities.

     "The Government will closely monitor the situation to determine when to embark on full resumption of normal business."

Ends/Monday, May 4, 2020
Issued at HKT 19:35

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