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Which operations can restart first? New guide could help hospitals decide
(Michigan Medicine - University of Michigan) Now, as hospitals across the country start to return to doing non-emergency operations that keep their beds full and their books balanced, they need to think carefully about what resources each of those procedures will need as the pandemic continues. A new guide could help them prioritize and plan. Created by poring over seven years' worth of data from 17 common operations in dozens of hospitals, it's available for free for any hospital to use.
George Mason University researchers and World Bank launch web portal for hospitals
(George Mason University) The team's work supports evidence-based decision making, informed by models, to rethink and facilitate hospital operations during the pandemic.
St. Jude awarded federal grant for Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation
(St. Jude Children's Research Hospital) Funding will help expand collaboration across engineering and physical sciences to expand tools for studying pediatric diseases.
Twitter -- not just pointless babble
(Queensland University of Technology) It started life as the concept drawing for a mobile 'status update' tool only geeks could love. Now we cannot imagine a world without Twitter, its hashtags, and the worldwide movements it has helped create. A new book tracks its journey.
How to win back customer defectors
(American Marketing Association) The positive outcomes of customer reacquisition more than offset the costs. Successful reacquisition management, though, requires a failure-tolerant company culture and guidelines.
How nonprofits can boost donations using the marketing mix
(American Marketing Association) Nonprofits may better meet their missions by learning to effectively employ the entirety of the marketing mix to attract individuals to available donation opportunities.
COVID-19 baby boom? This new study suggests perhaps not
(Taylor & Francis Group) Over 80% of people surveyed in a study do not plan to conceive during the COVID-19 crisis, perhaps putting to rest suggestions that the lockdown could lead to rise in birth numbers.
NJIT physics team provides novel swab design, free of charge, to augment COVID-19 testing
(New Jersey Institute of Technology) A team of NJIT physicists has developed a novel test swab that can be 3D printed using inexpensive, widely available materials and speedily assembled in a range of fabrication settings. To augment the nation's testing capabilities, the inventors are making the swab's design publicly available, free of licensing fees, during the COVID-19 emergency.
Diminished returns of educational attainment on heart disease among black Americans
(Bentham Science Publishers) Using a nationally representative sample, the researchers explored racial/ethnic variation in the link between educational attainment and heart disease among American adults.
Fixed-rate mortgage scheme opens
The Mortgage Corporation today announced that the pilot scheme for fixed-rate mortgages will start receiving applications from May 7.
The aggregate loan amount of the Fixed-rate Mortgage Pilot Scheme is $1 billion, subject to a maximum loan amount of each private residential mortgage of $10 million.
Financial Secretary Paul Chan said the pilot scheme, announced in the 2020-21 Budget, provides an alternative financing option to homebuyers for mitigating their risks arising from interest rate volatility, thereby promoting the development of the mortgage market in the long run.
In response to the change in market interest rates, mortgage interest rates under the pilot scheme have been lowered, as compared to the levels previously announced in the Budget. The interest rates per annum for 10, 15 and 20 years are 2.55%, 2.65% and 2.75%.
Mortgages under the pilot scheme will be offered through Bank of China, Chong Hing Bank, Dah Sing Bank, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, Shanghai Commercial Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and The Bank of East Asia.
At the end of the fixed-rate period, borrowers may either re-fix the mortgage rate under fixed-rate mortgages or convert the mortgage to a loan on a floating rate, which is the prime rate minus 2.35%.
The pilot scheme will be effective until October 31.
Mar retail sales fall 42%
The value of total retail sales in March, provisionally estimated at $23 billion, fell 42% compared with the same month in 2019, the Census & Statistics Department announced today.
After netting out the effect of price changes over the same period, the volume of total retail sales decreased 43.8% year-on-year.
The value of sales of food, alcoholic drinks and tobacco decreased 21.2%.
This was followed by commodities in department stores (-42.7% in value); other consumer goods, not elsewhere classified (-29.1%); electrical goods and other consumer durable goods, not elsewhere classified (-39.6%); jewellery, watches and clocks, and valuable gifts (-75.2%); medicines and cosmetics (-63.8%); wearing apparel (-67.2%); motor vehicles and parts (-19.8%); fuels (-8%); furniture and fixtures (-14.4%); books, newspapers, stationery and gifts (-48.4%); Chinese drugs and herbs (-51.7%); footwear, allied products and other clothing accessories (-60.6%); and optical shops (-46.6%).
The value of sales of commodities in supermarkets increased 16.1% for the period.
The Government said retail sales continued to plummet in March as the COVID‑19 pandemic and resulting anti-epidemic measures brought inbound tourism to a standstill and seriously disrupted consumption-related activities.
For the first quarter as a whole, the volume of retail sales fell 36.9% year-on-year, the largest decline for a single quarter on record.
Noting that the business environment for retail trade will remain very difficult in the near term amid the deep economic recession and sharp deterioration in the labour market, the Government said it will closely monitor the developments.
Catering business subsidy set
The Food & Environmental Hygiene Department announced that applications for the Catering Business (Social Distancing) Subsidy Scheme, under the second round of the Anti-epidemic Fund, will start from May 5.
The department said the scheme, which is estimated to benefit 16,000 catering outlets and their employees, will provide financial relief measures to the catering businesses which have been hard hit by the COVID-19 epidemic and social distancing measures.
It will provide subsidies ranging from $250,000 to $2,200,000 to eligible licence holders of general restaurants, light refreshment restaurants, marine restaurants and factory canteens in operation according to the floor area of the premises as specified on the licence.
The primary goal of the scheme is to support the payment of employees' salaries during a six-month period following application approval.
To provide immediate relief to the catering sector, the subsidy will be dished out upfront, in two tranches.
To avoid abuse, applicants should undertake that there will be no redundancy of staff for three months on receipt of the first tranche of subsidy and another three months on receipt of the second tranche.
They should also undertake that not less than 80% of the subsidies for respective months would be used to pay salaries of staff working at the premises.
Applicants should submit within a specified period a certificate issued by a Certified Public Accountant (practising) on its total staff salaries and total number of salaried staff for each of the months covered by the subsidy.
They should also submit a certificate issued by a CPA on its total staff salaries and total number of staff working at the premises for the month of March this year.
To avoid double benefits, applicants should declare that they have not and will not submit any application under the Employment Support Scheme.
Each catering outlet directed to close its licensed premises under the Prevention & Control of Disease (Requirements & Directions) (Business & Premises) Regulation, including karaoke establishments, nightclubs and bars or pubs, is eligible for a further one-off subsidy of $50,000.
Applications should be submitted to the department's District Environmental Hygiene Offices in person or by mail. Food licence holders can also submit their applications through the website.
The deadline for application is June 5.
Upon receipt of the completed application form and supporting documents and after verification, the disbursement of the first tranche of subsidies can generally be made in two to three weeks by crossed cheques to the corresponding licensed food premises.
Mask production subsidies reassigned
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.
60k workers received allowance
Some 60,000 workers of over 340 contractors received the first round of allowance under the Anti-epidemic Fund, the Government said today.
The Government explained that it has been making use of the fund to provide allowances to eligible cleansing and security workers engaged by service contractors of the Government and Housing Authority.
Front-line cleansing workers, toilet attendants and security workers employed by the service contractors can receive a monthly allowance of $1,000 for a period of no fewer than four months throughout the epidemic period.
The first round of funding amounted to some $60 million.
Eligible workers who performed duties in March have received the $1,000 allowance applicable to that month.
Arrangements were made for the April allowance to be issued concurrently with the salary of that month.
Front-line workers are not required to submit any application for the allowance.
The departments and the Housing Authority entered into agreements with their contractors to ensure the transfer of the allowance to eligible workers.
The Government said the allowance aims to provide financial support to cleansing and security staff engaged by service contractors in anti-epidemic efforts, and gives recognition for their committed services at this critical juncture.
Economy dips 8.9% in Q1
(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.
Exemption for manufacturers set
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.
Act together to revive economy
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.”
Timely subsidy disbursement urged
Property management companies and owners’ organisations which have successfully applied for an anti-epidemic support scheme were reminded today to disburse the hardship allowance to frontline workers as soon as practicable upon receiving the subsidies.
The Home Affairs Department said the workers concerned shall acknowledge receipt of the allowance using the prescribed forms.
The property management companies or owners’ organisations shall submit a report on the allowance’s overall payment to the Property Management Services Authority within three months of receiving the subsidies.
The department and/or the authority will conduct a random review and check to ensure that the frontline property management workers have received the allowance.
As of today, more than 8,160 applications have been received for the Anti-epidemic Support Scheme for Property Management Sector under the Anti-epidemic Fund.
About 2,850 applications have been approved, involving more than $100 million in subsidies and benefitting more than 17,500 building blocks and about 25,500 frontline workers.
Call 3696 1156 or 3696 1166 for enquiries.
EDB, AFCD to resume services
The Education Bureau and the Agriculture, Fisheries & Conservation Department (AFCD) today announced their latest arrangements on public services starting May 4.
All Regional Education Offices, the Joint Office for Kindergartens & Child Care Centres, the School Places Allocation Section, the Qualifications Framework Secretariat and other service units will resume normal opening hours from May 4.
However, the Hong Kong Teachers' Centre, Special Education Resource Centre, Central Resources Centre and Young Achievers' Gallery located at Kowloon Tong Education Services Centre, as well as the Arts & Technology Education Centre will remain closed until further notice.
The AFCD’s licensing services and reception counters at Cheung Sha Wan Government Offices and the Marine Parks Office at CDW Building in Tsuen Wan will resume normal services Monday to Friday from 8.30am to 12.30pm and 1.30pm to 5.45pm.
The anti-rabies dog inoculation and dog licensing services at the animal management centres will also resume as normal from May 4.
Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Wetland Park (except some indoor facilities and play areas), eight Country Park Visitor/Education Centres, seven Hong Kong Geopark Park Visitor Centres and the Endangered Species Resources Centre will reopen from May 4.
However, school and public programmes will remain suspended until further notice.
The barbecue sites and campsites in country parks will also continue to be closed until May 7.
Click here for the latest public service arrangements.
Gov't committed to labour rights
The Government said it will continue to spare no effort in improving workers' benefits and protection and enhance occupational safety and health in various industries at a pace commensurate with Hong Kong's overall socio-economic development.
The Government made the statement today in response to the demands of different labour groups, noting that it would take into account both employees' interests and employers' abilities to afford the benefits, despite the severe blow dealt by the COVID-19 epidemic to the local economy.
"The seasonally adjusted unemployment and underemployment rates for January to March this year have soared to their highest levels in recent years. The labour market will continue to face significant pressure in the near term.
“The Government has rolled out relief measures of unprecedented scale, including the one-off measures in the 2020-21 Budget and two rounds of measures under the Anti-epidemic Fund (AEF) totalling $287.5 billion, with a view to preserving the vitality of the economy and relieving people's financial burden.
“The Government will launch as soon as possible the Employment Support Scheme under the second round of the AEF, with a total commitment of $81 billion, to provide time-limited financial support to employers to help them retain employees who will otherwise be made redundant.”
Moreover, the Government explained that it has earmarked $6 billion to create around 30,000 time-limited jobs in the public and private sectors in the coming two years for people with different skills and academic qualifications.
It emphasised that the Labour Department will raise the ceiling of on-the-job training allowance payable to employers under the Employment Programme for the Elderly & Middle-aged, the Youth Employment & Training Programme and the Work Orientation & Placement Scheme in the second half of this year.
It will also launch a pilot scheme to encourage eligible participants of these programmes to undergo and complete the training by offering a retention allowance.
On improvements to other labour benefits, the Government pointed out that it is working at full steam on the preparatory work to abolish the arrangement of 'offsetting' severance payments and long service payments with employers' mandatory contributions under the Mandatory Provident Fund System.
It stressed that it will strive to introduce the enabling bill into the Legislative Council by the end of this year, aiming to secure its passage by 2022.
Meanwhile, the Government introduced the Employment (Amendment) Bill 2019 into LegCo on January 8 this year. The bill, which proposes to extend statutory maternity leave by four weeks, is now being handled by the LegCo Panel on Manpower.
The Chief Executive announced on January 14 this year 10 new initiatives on improving people's livelihood, one of which is to increase progressively the number of statutory holidays so that it will be on par with that of general holidays.
The Government stated that it will work out the relevant proposal, invite the Labour Advisory Board to discuss, and will facilitate and support its work.
The Minimum Wage Commission is conducting a new round of review on the Statutory Minimum Wage rate and will submit a report on its recommendation to the Chief Executive in Council by end-October.
The Government added that it attaches great importance to employees' occupational safety and health.
It said the Labour Department has been adjusting its strategies of inspection and enforcement, publicity and promotion, education and training according to the occupational safety and health risk levels of different industries as well as taking sufficient precautionary measures to prevent accidents by driving employers and employees to work together.
Minimum wage report due Oct
The Minimum Wage Commission will submit to the Chief Executive in Council its recommendation report on the statutory minimum wage rate by the end of October at the latest.
In accordance with the Minimum Wage Ordinance, the Chief Executive has required the commission to submit its recommendation report on or before October 31.
Pursuant to the ordinance, the commission must maintain an appropriate balance between the objectives of forestalling excessively low wages and minimising the loss of low-paid jobs as well as the need to sustain the city's economic growth and competitiveness.
The commission is conducting a public consultation on the statutory minimum wage rate review.
Views can be sent by email before June 16.
Click here for the consultation details.
Academy funding deadline extended
The deadline for applications under the first round of funding from the Elder Academy Development Foundation in 2020 has been extended to June 30, the Labour & Welfare Bureau announced today.
The decision aims to provide sufficient time for primary and secondary school sponsoring bodies, post-secondary institutions and organisations, which may be affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, to prepare their submissions.
The fund’s committee accepts funding applications all year round and conducts vetting and disburses funding twice a year. The deadlines were generally May 31 and October 31 respectively.
The committee will continue to monitor the situation and announce arrangements for the next round in due course.
To tie in with the Elder Academy Scheme, the fund mainly provides funding for primary and secondary schools as well as post-secondary institutions to set up academies to provide learning opportunities in a school setting for the elderly.
Funding is also provided for activities that encourage elderly learning and inter-generational harmony.
Call 3655 5861 or 3655 5007 for enquiries.
P1 allocation results to be mailed
To reduce social contact in light of the COVID-19 epidemic, the Primary One Central Allocation results will be posted to parents.
Announcing the move today, the Education Bureau said it will deliver door-to-door the Primary One Registration Form with Central Allocation results to parents from June 3 to 4 through Hongkong Post’s Local CourierPost service.
If no one is present to receive the item at the time of delivery, a mail collection notification card will be left for parents to collect it from the designated post office from the afternoon of the following working day.
If parents have not received the Primary One Registration Form or the notification card by June 5, they can collect the registration form at the designated Collection Centre from June 6 to 7.
The Education Bureau will send letters to parents tomorrow to notify them of the arrangements.
Parents can get updates on the latest arrangements for the release of Central Allocation results and registration through the bureau’s press releases and messages posted on its website.
Call 2891 0088 for information on Primary One admission. For further enquiries, contact the bureau's School Places Allocation Section (Primary One Admission) on 2832 7700 or 2832 7740.
EdUHK council chair reappointed
The Chief Executive has reappointed Frederick Ma as Chairman of the Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) Council from April 25 to December 31, the Government announced today.
Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung thanked Mr Ma for accepting the reappointment, saying that under his leadership, EdUHK continues to focus on educational research, development and innovation and promoting and supporting the development of teacher education in Hong Kong by nurturing outstanding and committed educators and professionals.
Mr Ma cannot accept a three-year term up until 2023 due to personal reasons. In the meantime, the Government will identify a suitable candidate for the chairmanship of the EdUHK Council.
Transport arrangements for DSE set
The Transport Department today said that public transport operators will resume and strengthen services to meet the travelling needs of candidates sitting for the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (DSE), which will start on April 24.
At the department's request, KMB, Citybus, New World First Bus and New Lantao Bus will resume bus routes serving school areas that were previously suspended, and will strengthen the services as appropriate to meet passenger demand.
For the Mass Transit Railway, except for the Airport Express and Disneyland Resort Line, heavy rail services will be gradually enhanced, starting from 6.15am to 6.30am during the exam period.
Light Rail and MTR bus services serving school areas will also be strengthened.
The department has reminded green minibus operators to closely monitor the transport demand and strengthen services as appropriate throughout the exam period.
Its Emergency Transport Co-ordination Centre will closely monitor the traffic situation and co-ordinate with major public transport operators to adjust frequency flexibly and strengthen services when necessary.
The department appealed to all DSE candidates to familiarise themselves with public transport routes to be taken to examination centres in advance and allow sufficient travelling time.
Extra transport allowance set
Recipients of the Individual-based Work Incentive Transport Subsidy (I-WITS) will receive a one-off extra allowance after the passage of the Appropriation Bill 2020, the Government announced today.
The extra allowance was proposed in the 2020-21 Budget and would be disbursed one month after the bill’s passage at the earliest.
Eligible recipients are those whose I-WITS applications were made in the applicable period - from the first day of the month in which the bill is passed to the date of the bill’s passage, and six calendar months before that month.
New applicants or previous I-WITS recipients who have yet to submit applications in the applicable period should do so on or before the date of the bill’s passage to be eligible for the extra allowance.
The extra allowance will be the average monthly amount of approved months payable to the applicants in their I-WITS applications which were most recently submitted in the applicable period and eventually approved.
Click here for details.
CS inspects DSE exam centre
Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung today visited Queen Elizabeth School to inspect the preparatory work of an examination centre for the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) Examination.
Mr Cheung was briefed on anti-epidemic precautionary measures for candidates and examination personnel before they enter the centres.
They will be required to wear masks, make health declarations, undergo temperature checks, disinfect the soles of their shoes and clean their hands with alcohol-based sanitiser.
He then visited the school hall to understand the preparation required for an examination centre, such as disinfection and widening the distance between candidates’ seats to 1.8m as much as possible.
The Chief Secretary also learnt about the arrangements for candidates during the sessional break and the use of washrooms to help ensure that social distancing is maintained.
Mr Cheung was pleased to know that the Education Bureau had earlier distributed masks to candidates and made available about 200,000 bottles of alcohol-based sanitiser for candidates at examination centres.
The bureau has also set fallback dates, should the DSE examination be halted if the epidemic situation worsens.
He thanked the bureau, relevant government departments, the Examinations & Assessment Authority, principals, teachers and school staff for the additional work they have done to protect the candidates’ health and safety.
He encouraged the some 50,000 candidates to tackle the examinations positively and optimistically and reminded them to heighten their anti-epidemic awareness and strictly follow examination arrangements.
Additionally, Mr Cheung appealed to all employers to allow their staff to follow flexible working hours to divert passenger flows on public transport during the morning peak hours between 7am and 8am, thus enabling candidates to reach examination centres on time.
Minimum wage views sought
The Minimum Wage Commission today launched an eight-week public consultation to review the statutory minimum wage rate.
The commission said it adopts an evidence-based approach in conducting the minimum wage rate review and will consider the community's views.
Views can be sent by email before June 16.
Click here for information.
More support set for education sector
The Education Bureau today issued a circular memorandum to tutorial schools, inviting them to apply for a relief grant under the Anti-epidemic Fund.
The bureau said a total of about $120 million has been allocated from the fund to provide a one-off relief grant of $40,000 to each eligible tutorial school.
These tutorial schools must be registered under the Education Ordinance, have been operating in the three months before the class suspension - November, December and January - and be in operation on the application date.
Designated centres under the Financial Assistance Scheme for Designated Evening Adult Education Courses, which offer evening secondary school courses for adult learners, are also eligible for the grant.
The measure is expected to benefit about 3,000 tutorial schools, and the relief grant will be disbursed about four weeks upon receipt of an application.
Additionally, the fund will also provide relief grants to school-related service providers who have been affected by the prolonged class suspension, incurring an expenditure of about $419 million.
Beneficiaries will include operators of catering outlets at primary schools, secondary schools and post-secondary institutions and lunchbox providers of primary and secondary schools.
School bus drivers, school private light bus drivers and escorts, or nannies, as well as instructors, coaches, trainers and operators of interest classes engaged by schools, will also benefit from the relief grants.
The bureau will distribute application forms for the relief grant through post-secondary institutions to the catering outlets operating on their campuses within this week. The application details for other relief grants will be announced as soon as possible.
Separately, the bureau announced earlier that it would provide a one-off relief grant of $80,000 to each private school offering full and formal curriculum.
The grant has been disbursed progressively to schools under the English Schools Foundation, international schools, private independent schools, and other private secondary day schools and private primary schools.
Anti-epidemic fund committee meets
Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung today chaired the fourth meeting of the Anti-epidemic Fund Steering Committee, during which the funding commitment for 33 measures under the second-round of the fund was approved.
The Legislative Council Finance Committee last Saturday approved a funding application of $137.5 billion, including an injection of $120.5 billion to the Anti-epidemic Fund to roll out the second round of measures to provide further assistance or relief to the public and enterprises hard hit by the current epidemic or affected by anti-epidemic measures.
Mr Cheung said: "The pandemic has caused an unprecedented impact on Hong Kong's economy and various sectors have been hard hit.
“The Government will take resolute and unprecedented measures to expeditiously relieve the imminent needs of the businesses and members of the public.
"To provide assistance and relief to relevant enterprises and members of the public as soon as possible, I have asked the bureaus and departments to implement the measures at full steam to address the pressing needs of the community promptly and achieve the effect of safeguarding jobs and supporting enterprises."
Separately, the Education Bureau said the Finance Committee’s approval of the funding application for the second round of the fund and other relief measures included a one-off interest-free deferral of loan repayment for two years to self-financing post-secondary institutions under the Start-up Loan Scheme, non-profit-making international schools and student loan repayers.
All borrowers of the Tertiary Student Finance Scheme - Publicly-funded Programmes, Financial Assistance Scheme for Post-secondary Students, Non-means-tested Loan Scheme for Full-time Tertiary Students, Non-means-tested Loan Scheme for Post-secondary Students and Extended Non-means-tested Loan Scheme will be offered an interest-free deferral of loan repayment from April 1 this year to March 31, 2022, including their loan instalments and interests.
The annual administrative fee of $180 charged on the non-means-tested loan repayers during the suspension period will be waived. The risk-adjusted-factor rate for setting the interest rate will also be maintained at zero.
Additionally, support for the construction sector will be enhanced.
The Development Bureau today said a one-off subsidy of $7,500 will be offered to each eligible construction worker.
More than 530,000 workers will benefit from the subsidy, including workers of construction sites as well as those registered under the Electrical & Mechanical Services Department, the Buildings Department, the Water Supplies Department and the Fire Services Department.
At the same time, a one-off subsidy will be provided to 30,000 construction-related enterprises, generally small-scaled, which cannot benefit from the first round of the Anti-epidemic Fund.
Each eligible contractor, specialist contractor, works contractor and supplier can receive a one-off subsidy of $20,000, while minor works contractors, registered contractors of electrical, gas, lift, escalator and fire service installation along with suppliers of construction-related machinery and equipment rental can receive $10,000 each.
About 600 consultant firms offering engineering, architectural and related professional services will receive a subsidy of $50,000 each to support professionals in the sector.
The Government will also provide a direct subsidy of $3 million to each non-profit-making organisation running the 10 projects under the Revitalising Historic Buildings Through Partnership Scheme, PMQ and the Energizing Kowloon East - Fly the Flyover Operation.
Gov't unveils employment measures
The Government will launch a series of measures to retain and create jobs to prevent massive layoffs amid record levels of unemployment and underemployment for the first three months of the year.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment and underemployment rates have soared recently due to the severe blow dealt by the COVID-19 epidemic to Hong Kong’s economy.
With reference to the practice of some overseas governments in providing wage subsidies to employers and following the funding approval by the Legislative Council Finance Committee, the Government will launch the $81 billion Employment Support Scheme (ESS) as soon as possible.
The scheme will provide time-limited financial support to employers to retain workers who will inevitably be made redundant due to the downturn in business.
The provision of subsidies for employers, together with other relief measures and loan arrangements under the Anti-epidemic Fund and the 2020-21 Budget will help businesses stay afloat and retain jobs to prepare for a quick recovery once the epidemic is over.
Except for the Government, statutory bodies and government-funded organisations whose employees' salaries are not affected by the epidemic, employers who have been making Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) contributions or have set up Occupational Retirement Schemes will be eligible for the ESS.
Employers joining the scheme have to provide an undertaking not to implement redundancies during the subsidy period and spend all wage subsidies from the Government in paying wages to their employees.
Wage subsidies provided under the ESS are calculated based on 50% of wages in a specified month subject to a wage cap of $18,000 per month for six months.
Payment will be made in two tranches, with the first payout no later than the end of June to subsidise employers to pay employees' wages from June to August.
After approval of the application, the number of employees on payroll shall not be less than the number of employees in March and the wage subsidies applied by employers must be used fully for employees' wages.
Under the ESS, self-employed people who have contributed to the MPF from January 1, 2019 to March 31 will be granted a one-off subsidy of $7,500.
The scheme is expected to benefit over 260,000 employers who have been making MPF contributions or have set up Occupational Retirement Schemes for 1.7 million employees, and about 215,000 self-employed people.
Employers and employees in the catering, construction and transport sectors that are not covered by the MPF will be taken care of by sector-specific schemes.
Regarding job creation, the Government has earmarked $6 billion to create about 30,000 time-limited jobs in public and private sectors in the coming two years for people of different skills and academic qualifications.
This is in addition to more than 10,000 civil service job openings for replacing retirees and filling new posts to be created in the 2020-21 Estimates, and about 5,000 short-term interns for young people.
In the second half of the year, the Labour Department will raise the ceiling of the on-the-job training allowance payable to employers under the Employment Programme for the Elderly & Middle-aged, the Youth Employment & Training Programme and the Work Orientation & Placement Scheme to further encourage employers to hire seniors, youngsters and the disabled.
The department plans to launch a pilot scheme in the second half of the year to encourage these people to undergo and complete on-the-job training under the above-mentioned employment programmes through the provision of a retention allowance.
A time-limited unemployment support scheme will be launched through the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme at the same time to provide timely and basic financial support to the unemployed who may not be covered by the ESS.
To maintain Hong Kong's economic vibrancy and relieve the financial burden of the public under the epidemic, the Government has introduced the largest package of relief measures to date, including the one-off relief measures in the Budget costing $120 billion and two rounds of measures under the Anti-epidemic Fund totalling $287.5 billion.
This accounts for about 10% of Hong Kong's gross domestic product, the Government added.
Unemployment rises to 4.2%
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased to 4.2% in the period between January and March, up from 3.7% for the period between December 2019 and February, the Census & Statistics Department announced today.
The underemployment rate also increased to 2.1% in the period.
Total employment dropped by 48,800 to 3,720,000 while the labour force fell by 20,800 to 3,882,200.
There were 134,100 unemployed people in the period, an increase of 28,100 from the period between December 2019 and February, and the number of underemployed people rose by 23,700 to 82,800.
Secretary for Labour & Welfare Dr Law Chi-kwong said that the labour market further deteriorated as the COVID-19 pandemic severely disrupted a wide range of economic activities.
The unemployment rate soared by 0.5 percentage point to 4.2% for the period, the highest in more than nine years, while the underemployment rate likewise surged 0.6 percentage point to 2.1%, the highest in nearly a decade, he said.
The year-on-year declines in total employment and labour force widened further to 3.6% and 2.2%, both the largest on record.
The combined unemployment rate of the consumption and tourism-related sectors of retail, accommodation and food services soared to 6.8%, the highest since the period between August and October in 2009 following the global financial crisis, while the underemployment rate rose to 3.9%, the highest since the period between June and August of 2003 following the onslaught of SARS.
Dr Law added the situation in food and beverage service activities was severe, with the unemployment and underemployment rates surging to 8.6% and 5.4%.
Meanwhile, the unemployment and underemployment rates of the construction sector went up drastically to 8.5% and 7.1% amid a visible slowdown in construction activities.
The unemployment and underemployment situation worsened visibly in the transportation and education sectors as well. Labour market conditions in most other sectors also saw deterioration of various degrees.
Dr Law said: "The labour market will continue to face significant pressure from the economic fallout arising from the pandemic in the near term.
“The Government has rolled out relief measures of unprecedented scale, including the one-off measures in the 2020-21 Budget and the two rounds of measures under the Anti-epidemic Fund totalling $287.5 billion, with a view to preserving the vitality of the economy and relieving people's financial burdens.
“Some specific measures, in particular the Employment Support Scheme and various types of support for specific sectors, should help keep workers in employment.
“The Government will closely monitor the developments, including the progress and effectiveness of the various relief measures.”
Employment support is vital
As we all know, Hong Kong as well as most parts of the world are facing a pandemic that has an enormous negative impact on our social and economic life. At this juncture, we don't have any accurate way to predict what will happen in the coming months. Two months ago, we were worried about whether COVID-19 would become a pandemic. Yet, the scale of the pandemic as we see now is not what we could have imagined two months ago. What we can do now is tackle the social and economic crisis upfront and build the resilience of our society, in particular, our employment market, so that when the time comes where social and economic activities can resume no matter how gradually or rapidly, our society can bounce back as soon as possible.
Unemployment has edged up bit by bit since the latter part of 2019. Statistics and daily news about business closures are telling us that unemployment is going up rapidly. While we should see what can be done to help those unemployed, the more important and urgent task is to see how we can "stop the bleeding", which essentially means job retention. The Employment Support Scheme, with a budget of over $80 billion, is designed exactly for that purpose. Through providing time-limited financial support, the whole idea of this scheme is to preserve jobs by enabling employers to keep their employees in employment for the coming months, and also when business resumes, employers can immediately grab the opportunities.
The central idea of the Employment Support Scheme is to provide wage subsidy that is equivalent to 50% of the wages of the employees up to a wage cap of $18,000 per month. The subsidy is given to the employers so that they can keep their staff for the coming six months. The employers will be required to have no redundancy or layoffs during the months that they receive wage subsidies from the Government.
In Hong Kong, we do not have a pay-as-you-go income tax system. Neither do we have a social insurance system nor a central provident fund to cover everyone in our workforce. That means we do not have any existing system covering every employer and employee in Hong Kong that we can devise a wage subsidy scheme that covers everyone. Any system meant to cover everyone in our workforce must be mandatory in nature and that will take time for us to have the relevant legislation in place and subsequently the system built.
However, schemes under the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) and the other Occupational Retirement Schemes provide a framework that we can develop a wage subsidy scheme to cover the great majority of the workforce. This is definitely not sufficient. In particular, we have identified three sectors that do not have good coverage in the provident fund systems. They are the catering industry, the construction industry and the passenger transport sector. Under the Anti-epidemic Fund, we have three sector-specific schemes to assist the employers and the employees in these sectors.
Many freelance workers or those in the so-called slash economy do not make contributions to the MPF. Though we have over 200,000 self-employed persons having an account in the MPF system, they do not pay MPF regularly. While we will provide a one-off wage subsidy to those self-employed persons who have made MPF contributions within the past 15 months, we also have three separate but mutually exclusive schemes operating under the Home Affairs Bureau, the Education Bureau and the Social Welfare Department, providing the same one-off wage subsidy to those freelance workers who provide arts and sports training. The one-off wage subsidy is $7,500.
Though all the schemes I mentioned above still cannot cover everyone in the workforce, this is the best we can do in making use of existing systems so that we can launch this round of the Anti-epidemic Fund in the shortest possible time to help our employers and employees to survive the challenges that are with us now. Any new systems to be built from scratch will not be able to provide the necessary timely support that employers and employees desperately need.
As mentioned earlier, unemployment is increasing at a disturbing rate. The basic unemployment protection system in Hong Kong relies on two legs. One is the Severance Payment or Long Service Payment payable by the employers, which is equivalent to two-thirds of the monthly salary times the number of years of service with the employer. The other is the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) Scheme. The CSSA provides a level of income support to families for their basic level of living in the context of Hong Kong. The CSSA provides a safety net to any family not having sufficient means, including those who are unemployed.
Apart from the income test, the CSSA also has an asset test. For the purpose of providing extra help to those unemployed during this difficult time, the Government will double the existing asset limit for the able-bodied for a limited period of six months, allowing more families with people unemployed to become eligible to receive CSSA. We estimated that about 40,000 families will benefit from this enhancement.
Unfortunately, over the years there is a social stigma towards the CSSA system. People in desperation may be deterred from applying for CSSA simply because of the stigma. This is the time for us to destigmatise the CSSA system. It is the safety net for citizens of Hong Kong. It is the responsibility of an affluent society like Hong Kong to provide the basic level of living to those who cannot afford to do so on their own. This is the time, this difficult time, that this safety net should perform its basic function.
We are doing our best to support Hong Kong in this epidemic fight. Let's weather the storm and brave the challenges together.
This is the Letter to Hong Kong by Secretary for Labour & Welfare Dr Law Chi-kwong on anti-epidemic measures and the Employment Support Scheme carried on Radio Television Hong Kong Radio 3 on April 19.
Exam centres well prepared
Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung said all the examination centres for the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) Examination are well prepared to provide a very safe environment for candidates to take the exams.
Mr Yeung made the statement when asked by reporters this morning about the arrangements schools have made to prepare for the DSE to be held on April 24.
He said: “In terms of the distance between the seats, in terms of all the procedures for cleansing, and also the detailed arrangements including the toilet arrangement and other things, all the schools, all the examination centres, are well prepared to provide a very safe environment for our candidates to take the examinations.”
Regarding school resumption, Mr Yeung said the Government has not made any firm decision nor set any deadline for schools to resume classes.
DSE exam set for Apr 24
(To watch the full press conference with sign language interpretation, click here.)
The Government is confident that the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) Examination could be held on April 24.
Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung made the statement when explaining the arrangements for the DSE examination at a press conference today.
Mr Yeung said the Government understands that some DSE candidates are concerned about their safety.
He said measures will be taken to make sure that examination venues will be as safe as possible.
Exam candidates will have to wear masks, which have already been distributed, before entering the examination centres. Hand sanitisers will also be given to them.
If a candidate has a fever or upper respiratory tract symptoms, they will not be allowed to take the exam.
Additionally, more classrooms will be turned into examination centres and desks will be separated by at least 1.8m in most centres.
Mr Yeung said: “We are now confident that the exam could be held on April 24.
“We believe that with everyone’s effort and hopefully with the support of the community in trying to control the spread of the disease, we will be able to complete the DSE exam by the end of May.”
Scheme transparency ensured: CS
The Government will ensure absolute transparency of the Employment Support Scheme, Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung said today.
Mr Cheung made the statement after attending a radio programme this morning, and reiterated that under the new $80 billion scheme, eligible employers have to undertake that they cannot implement redundancy and that the subsidy will go towards paying staff.
"We have got two very important criteria. One is, no redundancy at all. The second thing is, all the subsidy from the Government for that particular purpose must go to paying staff salaries and not other purposes. A very restrictive approach."
He added that the list of applicants for the scheme would be open for public inspection.
"We will ensure absolute transparency of the scheme. For any successful applicant, their amount of subsidy disbursed and so on will be released to the public, and also particularly to the employees concerned, so they know whether the employers have applied for the scheme and whether they are successful indeed.
"And finally in Hong Kong, we have got a very active media and also a very active trade union movement here."
Mr Cheung also said that imposing a penalty against those who did not comply with the scheme's regulations would be discussed.
"If there is any criminal element involved - conspiracy, dishonesty and so on - we will act in accordance with the law. Any outstanding sum that is not used will be clawed back. We are also considering imposing a penalty for any deviation from the so-called regulation or rules imposed by the scheme. Now, all these need to be thrashed out in the next few days.
"We will be going to the Finance Committee coming Friday. A special Finance Committee meeting will be lined up. Then the whole thing will go firm, because there are still some minor details yet to be thrashed out."
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euromicron AG improves earnings in first half of 2019
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