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HK ready to handle Golden Week
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-04-30 22:40 Hong Kong Secretary for Health,Welfare and Food
Yeoh Eng-kiong and Secretary for Security Ambrose SK Lee Friday inspected the Lo
Wu and Lok Ma Chau control points, one day before the Labor Day "Golden Week".
The inspection was aimed at checking the health and immigration measures for
welcoming the surge of Chinese mainland visitors during the Golden Week
beginning on May 1.
About 239,000 Mainland visitors are expected to enter Hong Kongvia Lo Wu
control point during the holiday, up 292 percent over last year's 61,000,
according to the Immigration Department.
The two officials were briefed on the operation of the Joint Command Center
(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 to incidents.
They then proceeded to the Visitor Clearance Hall to meet with port health
and immigration staff working together to guard the first line of defense
against a possible introduction of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) into
Hong Kong while providing efficient immigration services.
Since the recent notification of SARS cases in Beijing and Anhui province,
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 rise in passengers during
the Labor Day holidays, the DH has deployed 26 additional health surveillance
assistants to reinforce front-line 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," 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.
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.
He said: "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".
To cope with the extra demand, the Immigration Department has dispatched
another 320 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.
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