Dear Staff and Students,
We would like to share the following message on Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) from Department of Health about Government makes Prevention and Control of Disease (Use of Vaccines) Regulation and Government tightens compulsory quarantine requirements for persons arriving at Hong Kong who have stayed in United Kingdom.
Health, Safety and Environment Office
Updated information on Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
Government makes Prevention and Control of Disease (Use of Vaccines) Regulation and Government tightens compulsory quarantine requirements for persons arriving at Hong Kong who have stayed in United Kingdom
Allowing members of the public to be administered with safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines is crucial to the resumption of the normal ways of life in Hong Kong. The Government has published the Prevention and Control of Disease (Use of Vaccines) Regulation (Cap. 599K) (the Regulation) in the Gazette, which empowers the Secretary for Food and Health (SFH) to, based on the objective clinical data of a COVID-19 vaccine (including third phase clinical research data), with reference to the expert advice of an independent advisory panel and having regard to the approval given by a regulatory authority in a place outside Hong Kong that performs the function of approving pharmaceutical products (including emergency use), authorise and allow the specified use of the relevant COVID-19 vaccine in Hong Kong under the emergency situation. To ensure that authorised COVID-19 vaccines approved for specified emergency use under the Regulation still adhere to the requirements of safety, efficacy and quality, the authorisation by the SFH must be premised on objective clinical data and experts’ views, and complemented with a mechanism for monitoring any adverse event that occurs to the recipient associated with the administration of the relevant vaccine. The member list of the independent advisory panel is at Annex.
For authorised vaccines approved for emergency use in accordance with the Regulation, members of the public will be clearly informed of the relevant information in relation to the vaccine before vaccination, and the vaccine must be administered with the recipient’s informed consent. To facilitate the above arrangement, the Government will provide the latest information on the relevant vaccines through different channels at appropriate juncture, in order to enable members of the public to receive accurate information with respect to the relevant vaccines.
Moreover, a new virus variant with higher transmissibility is spotted in the UK and certain European countries. In view of the expert advice that the incubation period of virus carried by very few infected persons may be longer than the quarantine period of 14 days, as precautionary measures, the Government has amended the legislation to allow flexibility in lengthening the compulsory quarantine period for persons arriving at Hong Kong from a certain place (to a maximum of 28 days), and lengthening the period for a certain foreign place in which persons who arrive at Hong Kong have stayed before the arrival for determining the quarantine and boarding requirements under the relevant Regulations (to a maximum of 28 days), taking into account the needs of infection control.
The SFH has exercised the power under the newly amended Regulations to make relevant specifications. Effective from 0.00am on December 24, all persons who have stayed in the UK for more than two hours on the day of boarding or during the 21 days before that day are not allowed to board for Hong Kong; Persons arriving at Hong Kong (either via the airport or land boundary control points) who have stayed in the UK on the day of arrival at Hong Kong or during the 21 days before that day have to undergo compulsory quarantine for 21 days in designated quarantine hotels.
As for persons who arrived at Hong Kong during the period of December 2 to December 23, 2020, if they have stayed in the UK and are placed under compulsory quarantine in Hong Kong (including the quarantine orders issued under Cap. 599E or Cap. 599C), they still have to undergo testing at the Community Testing Centre or the designated quarantine hotel on the 19th or 20th day following their arrival at Hong Kong, and also stay at their place of residence, private premises or the place of quarantine specified on the quarantine order according to the compulsory testing notice made under Cap. 599J by the Government.
For more details, please refer to the press release and the Annex:
Government makes Prevention and Control of Disease (Use of Vaccines) Regulation
https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202012/24/P2020122300963.htm
Annex
https://gia.info.gov.hk/general/202012/24/P2020122300963_357200_1_1608740401982.pdf
Government tightens compulsory quarantine requirements for persons arriving at Hong Kong who have stayed in United Kingdom
https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202012/24/P2020122400141.htm
Please visit our Facebook and Thematic Website (https://www.coronavirus.gov.hk/eng/index.html) regularly for further information and updates.
We would like to solicit your support to disseminate the information to your colleagues, work associates and/or business partners so that they could adopt proper preventive measures. Thank you very much for your support.
Department of Health
******************************************
敬啟者：
2019冠狀病毒病的最新資訊
政府訂立《預防及控制疾病（使用疫苗）規例》及 政府加強對曾逗留英國的抵港人士的強制檢疫要求
讓市民早日接種安全、有效的新冠疫苗對本港回復正常生活至為關鍵。政府訂立《預防及控制疾病（使用疫苗）規例》（第599K章）（《規例》），賦權食物及衞生局局長根據一款新冠疫苗的客觀醫學數據（包括第三期臨床研究數據），參考一個獨立的顧問專家委員會的專業意見，及參照一個本港以外藥物規管機構核准使用（包括緊急使用），可以認可該款新冠疫苗，批准疫苗在香港在緊急情況下作指明用途。為確保透過《規例》獲准作指明緊急使用的認可新冠疫苗仍然符合安全、效能及質素要求，食物及衞生局局長的批准必須基於客觀醫學數據及專家的意見，亦會輔以機制監察任何與使用該疫苗有關並發生在接種者身上的不良反應。顧問專家委員會成員名單載於附件。
根據《規例》獲批准緊急使用的認可疫苗，市民在接種前會獲明確告知疫苗的相關資料，並須在其明確表示知情同意下接種。配合以上安排，政府會適時透過不同渠道向市民提供有關疫苗的最新資訊，讓市民獲取有關疫苗的正確資訊。
另外，英國和部分歐洲國家出現傳播力較強的新變種病毒。因應專家的意見，有極小部分受病毒感染人士的潛伏期可能超過14天檢疫期，政府為了防患未然修訂法例，容許彈性按防疫需要延長從個別地區抵港人士的強制檢疫期（最多28天），以及延長相關規例下抵港人士於抵港前在其他地區逗留而訂定檢疫及登機要求的期限（最多28天）。
食物及衞生局局長已引用新修訂的規例作出相關指明，由2020年12月24日凌晨零時起，所有於登機當天或之前21天曾逗留英國超過兩小時的人士，將不會獲准登機前來香港；而在到達香港當天或之前21天曾在英國逗留的抵港人士（不論經機場或陸路口岸抵港），則需要在指定檢疫酒店強制檢疫21天。
至於在2020年12月2日至12月23日到達香港的人士，如曾在英國停留並須在港接受強制檢疫（包括根據第599E章或第599C章發出的檢疫令），須繼續根據政府在第599J章下作出的強制檢測公告，在到港後第19天或第20天到社區檢測中心或在指定檢疫酒店接受檢測，並須在確定檢測結果前留在該人的居住地點、私人處所或在檢疫令上指明的檢疫地點。
詳情請參閱有關新聞公報及附件：
政府訂立《預防及控制疾病（使用疫苗）規例》
https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202012/23/P2020122300876.htm
附件
https://gia.info.gov.hk/general/202012/23/P2020122300876_357194_1_1608733305570.pdf
政府加強對曾逗留英國的抵港人士的強制檢疫要求
https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202012/24/P2020122400010.htm
請定期留意我們的Facebook及專題網站（https://www.coronavirus.gov.hk/chi/index.html），以獲取更多及更新的資訊。
希望你可以將有關資訊與你的同事、合作者及／或業務伙伴分享，讓他們都能採取合適的預防措施。非常感謝你的支持。
衞生署
