Month: July 2025

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

​The spokesperson for Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) made the following announcement today (July 15):

Five male patients (aged 65 to 90) of a medicine and geriatrics ward in PMH have been confirmed as carriers of Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae upon testing since July 7. All patients are being treated in isolation. One of the patients has symptoms of infections and in critical condition due to his underlying disease. Two of the other four asymptomatic patients are in stable condition, while the remaining two are in serious condition.

The hospital will continue the contact tracing investigation of close contacts of the patients in accordance with the prevailing guidelines. A series of enhanced infection control measures have already been adopted:
 

1. thorough cleaning and disinfection of the ward concerned;
2. enhanced patient and environmental screening procedures; and
3. application of stringent contact precautions and enhanced hand hygiene of staff and patients.

The hospital will continue to closely monitor the situation of the patients. The cases have been reported to the Hospital Authority Head Office and the Centre for Health Protection for necessary follow-up.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:

     The Legislative Council (LegCo) Secretariat today (July 15) released the latest issue of the Policy Pulse on “Strategies and edges of Hong Kong in hydrogen development”. This issue provides a brief overview of hydrogen energy development strategies in Hong Kong, the edges of promoting the hydrogen energy industry, the latest progress of improving relevant legislation by the Government, as well as relevant discussions of LegCo along with suggestions by Members.

     LegCo will resume the Second Reading debate on the Gas Safety (Amendment) Bill 2025 tomorrow (July 16). The Bill seeks to regulate the use of hydrogen as fuel to ensure the safe application of hydrogen fuel. It also empowers the Government to introduce new subsidiary legislation to ensure the flexibility of updating the regulatory requirements. The Government intends to introduce subsidiary legislation in 2026 to cover the entire supply chain of hydrogen as fuel. 

     The Policy Pulse highlights that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) Government actively promotes the development of hydrogen energy, and promulgated the Strategy of Hydrogen Development in Hong Kong last year. Setting out four major strategies of improving legislation, establishing standards, aligning with the market and advancing with prudence, the Strategy aims to create an environment conducive to the development of hydrogen energy in Hong Kong in an orderly manner, so as to make preparations for the wider application of hydrogen energy in the future.

     With a “zero carbon emissions” feature, hydrogen is a new energy with significant decarbonisation potential. Our country is the largest hydrogen producer in the world, and strives to achieve the “dual carbon” goals of peaking carbon emissions before 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality before 2060. The SAR Government also targets to cut carbon emissions by half from the 2005 level before 2035 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2050. The Policy Pulse points out that, with its unique advantage of enjoying strong support of the motherland and being closely connected to the world, as well as the strengths in scientific research, robust legislation and energy infrastructure, Hong Kong has very great potential to become a demonstration base for the development of hydrogen energy in the country, and facilitate the development of the hydrogen energy industry in the Belt and Road region and other overseas places. In addition, as an international financial centre, Hong Kong can help enterprises with their green transformation by providing green financing and professional services.

     The Policy Pulse also introduces a number of measures by the SAR Government to support research and innovation in the hydrogen energy technology. These include setting up the Inter-departmental Working Group on Using Hydrogen as Fuel to co-ordinate the efforts in promoting the local use of hydrogen energy and initiate relevant trial projects. Meanwhile, the Government has launched several funding schemes that cover the research and development of hydrogen energy technology, and actively promotes talent training, technological exchange and application in relevant scientific and technological fields, so as to cultivate professionals with the specialised knowledge and skills to ensure the safe application of hydrogen energy technology.

     LegCo Members have long attached great importance to the development of hydrogen energy in Hong Kong. In March 2023, LegCo passed a motion advocating the SAR Government to comprehensively promote the development of hydrogen energy industry in Hong Kong. The LegCo Panel on Environmental Affairs also visited hydrogen projects during its duty visit to Mainland cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (the Greater Bay Area) in August of the same year, and has been following up on issues related to hydrogen energy. The Policy Pulse summarises various recommendations made by Members on hydrogen energy development. These include capitalising on the strengths of Hong Kong’s financial services industry to attract capital investment in the city’s hydrogen energy industry and reserve land for development. Furthermore, the Government should take the lead in developing green industries and make use of new development areas as a springboard to bring in quality hydrogen energy industries; formulate relevant policies on hydrogen energy pricing to stimulate demand for hydrogen energy; promote carbon index certification to include hydrogen energy into Hong Kong’s carbon emissions trading market; and actively research and develop local hydrogen production technology, among others.

     The Policy Pulse points out that hydrogen energy is an integral component of the country’s future energy system. Members urge the Government to collaborate with other cities in the Greater Bay Area on the joint research, development and promotion of hydrogen energy development projects to facilitate exchanges and co-operation between the two places across the hydrogen energy industrial chain, with a view to promoting the alignment of the safety monitoring and quality testing standards between Hong Kong and the Mainland. Members also advise the Government to speed up the development of a set of internationally recognised hydrogen energy certification standards, so as to assist the Greater Bay Area and even the entire hydrogen industry in the country to enter the international market.

     The detailed content of “Strategies and edges of Hong Kong in hydrogen development” is available on the LegCo Website. The Policy Pulse, published by the Council Business Divisions of the LegCo Secretariat, covers specific topics and offers a comprehensive overview of related policy developments and summarised discussions in LegCo.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

     A spokesman for Hong Kong Talent Engage (HKTE) said today (July 15) that to support Hong Kong’s development as an international innovation and technology (I&T) hub, HKTE had organised three online and offline career fairs during the past three weeks to proactively attract global I&T talent to pursue development in Hong Kong, with a view to contributing to building Hong Kong into an international hub for high-calibre talent.

     HKTE held a online career fair last Thursday and Friday (July 10 and 11), featuring 47 renowned enterprises and organisations, to offer nearly 2 000 quality job vacancies across sectors such as data centre operations, cyber security and business analysis.

     The online career fair recorded nearly 33 000 visits, featuring job-seeking talent mainly from 14 countries or regions, including the Mainland, Singapore, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States, Canada, Germany, France and Switzerland, with over 3 000 curricula vitae received. To facilitate connections between job-seeking talent and employers, a one-to-one online meeting session was set up specifically at the career fair, resulting in nearly 5 000 direct dialogues.

     A spokesman for the Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited, one of the participating organisations, commented that the career fair facilitated effective interactions between global professionals in artificial intelligence, fintech and smart city technologies as well as digital innovation with Hong Kong employers. Nearly 90 per cent of participating enterprises and organisations expressed satisfaction with the event arrangements and indicated interest in joining future recruitment events organised by HKTE.

     In addition, HKTE co-organised physical job fairs with working partners two weeks ago, including the second edition of the Hong Kong International Talents Career Expo 2025 and the NovaX Global Investmatch Carnival 2025, to connect I&T talent and entrepreneurs with employers and investors, facilitating the settlement of talent in Hong Kong.

     The spokesman for HKTE added that talent is critical to the promotion of I&T development. HKTE will continue organising diverse activities to assist Hong Kong in attracting international I&T talent, including an online career fair targeting European and American markets in the second half of the year, thereby providing solid talent support for the development of the “eight centres” strategic positioning.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

The Lands Department (LandsD) announced today (July 15) that it registered 11 lease modifications and three land exchanges in the Land Registry during the quarter ending June 2025, of which five were modifications of a technical nature involving nil premium.

Among these 14 land transactions, two are located on Hong Kong Island, eight are in Kowloon and four are in the New Territories. The transactions exclude Small House cases.

There were no private treaty grants and lot extensions registered during the quarter.

The above land transactions realised a total land premium of about $102.652 million.

Transaction records of the lease modifications, land exchanges, private treaty grants and lot extensions, including those registered recently, are uploaded to the LandsD website (www.landsd.gov.hk/en/land-disposal-transaction/land-transaction.html) on a monthly basis. Details of the transactions may be obtained by searching the registered documents in the Land Registry.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

​Hongkong Post announced today (July 15) that, as advised by the postal administration of Slovakia, mail delivery services to areas with postcodes 93003, 93004, 93006, 93007 and 90068, previously impacted by local control measures after an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, have returned to normal.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Chan Kwok-ki, began his visit to Hainan Province yesterday (July 14).
 
Mr Chan first met with the Party Secretary and Chairman of the Hainan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, Mr Li Rongcan, in Haikou to exchange views on the latest developments in the two places, and discuss promoting and deepening the partnership between Hong Kong and Hainan Province. Mr Chan said that there is a frequent flow of people, logistics and capital between the two places, and with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the two governments in March this year, the exchanges between Hong Kong and Hainan Province will be closer in future. Hong Kong will fully leverage its unique advantage of being backed by the motherland and connected to the world under the “one country, two systems” principle, and will work with Hainan Province to achieve results attributable to the two places’ advantages, deepen economic, trade and cultural exchanges, and make greater contributions to the country’s high-quality development and high-level opening up.
 
Mr Chan then visited the Hainan Chronicles Museum to learn about the patriotic and revolutionary tradition education work there as well as the construction and development progress of the Hainan Special Economic Zone and Hainan as an international tourism island. Mr Chan then departed for Wenchang to meet with the Secretary of the CPC Wenchang Municipal Committee, Mr Wang Peng. Mr Chan introduced the latest situation of Hong Kong, and exchanged views with Mr Wang on further promoting exchanges between the two places and exploring more co-operation and development opportunities.
 
Mr Chan visited the Wenchang Yaoguang Rocket Viewing Platform early today (July 15) to join a science exploration activity of the Hainan Aerospace Science and Research Study Tour under the Strive and Rise Programme. Mr Chan engaged with the participants and encouraged them to grasp this valuable learning opportunity to learn and understand the country’s robust developments and significant achievements in the field of aerospace. He also encouraged the participants to continue to work hard in the future to cultivate a sense of contributing to the country and serving the society, and become a new generation with a sense of social responsibility and contributions. Mr Chan said he believed that the experience of joining this meaningful aerospace science and research study tour will boost the participants’ sense of patriotism and national pride.
 
Mr Chan will depart for Heilongjiang Province today.

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

The Lands Department announced today that it registered 11 lease modifications and three land exchanges in the Land Registry during the quarter ending June 2025, and that five were technical changes involving no premium.

Of the land transactions, two are located on Hong Kong Island, eight are in Kowloon and four are in the New Territories.

There were no private treaty grants and lot extensions registered during the quarter.

The land transactions realised a total land premium of about $102.652 million.

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

The Government announced today that the Chief Executive-in-Council approved granting a piece of government land together with the existing historical buildings at No. 4 Hospital Road to the GX Foundation for office use by private treaty at a nominal premium of $1,000.

The site has an area of about 1,046.8 sq m. Constructed in 1921, the existing buildings, with Grade 2 historic building status, include mainly a five-storey main building and a single-storey annex building.

The GX Foundation is an international humanitarian assistance organisation in Hong Kong, which aims to provide international medical and public health humanitarian assistance to Belt & Road countries. It also actively promotes international exchanges and co-operation, and provides internship opportunities for young people in humanitarian work.

The Government remarked that the land grant will help the foundation meet its operational needs and demand for further expansion.

It added that the land grant will not give rise to greater development intensity.

Apart from internal fitting-out and repair of the existing buildings and structures, no other works will be carried out by the foundation. Furthermore, the foundation is required to submit a conservation management plan to the Antiquities & Monuments Office for approval before commencing any works in the existing historical buildings.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region