The following is issued on behalf of the Judiciary:
     
     The Judiciary today (August 2) said that cleansing and disinfection have been completed in all courts and public areas of the Kowloon City Magistrates' Courts (KCM) after confirmed cases of COVID-19 involving two security personnel were recorded earlier. The security personnel concerned were employed by the police's contractor and tasked with security duties in courtrooms at the KCM. The patients and their close contacts had stopped working at the KCM before commencement of cleansing and disinfection.

     For the sake of prudence, starting from tomorrow (August 3), all fresh remand cases to be handled at the KCM will be diverted to the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts until further notice to further reduce the flow of people. Other hearings of the KCM will generally proceed as scheduled unless directed otherwise by the court. 

     For enquiries, the following hotline will be operated from Monday to Friday 8.45am to 12.30pm and from 2pm to 5pm (except public holidays):

     Magistrates' Courts: 2677 8373

     To provide further information to the public, details of confirmed or preliminary positive cases of COVID-19 involving staff working on Judiciary premises and court users who have stayed in the court areas for relatively long hours in the past 14 days have been uploaded to the Judiciary website (www.judiciary.hk) for reference.

     Court business is an essential public service. The effective and efficient administration of justice is integral to the Judiciary's mission to uphold the rule of law. It is therefore incumbent upon the Judiciary to closely monitor the changing public health situation with a view to striking a proper balance between protecting public health and maintaining the access to justice.

     The Judiciary will continue to strictly enforce appropriate preventive and crowd management measures. These measures include enhanced cleansing and disinfection of public areas, requiring all people entering the Judiciary premises to undergo body temperature checks and wear surgical masks at all times unless otherwise directed by the judge, expansion of registry/office areas as far as possible, and putting in place necessary queuing, ticketing and other crowd management arrangements to regulate the people flow and avoid crowding.

Ends/Sunday, August 2, 2020
Issued at HKT 18:25

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