This year, we have the rare occasion of having both the National Day and the Mid‑Autumn Festival falling on the same day. It is my sincere wish that all colleagues can relax and enjoy a good time with your families during the long holidays.
Not long ago in the first two weeks of September, the entire civil service was whole‑heartedly engaged in implementing the Universal Community Testing Programme. With your tremendous response to the Government’s call and dedication to serving the community, we managed to set up within a short time over 100 community testing centres in all 18 districts across the territory, and thereby provided the testing service to more than 1.78 million people smoothly. These achievements are very encouraging indeed.
I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude again to all of you for fighting the virus together and making contributions to eradicating the third wave of the epidemic. Nevertheless, the epidemic has not ended, and volatility may remain. During the holidays, we should still stay vigilant in preventing the epidemic and adopt all the anti‑epidemic measures. In particular, we must not participate in any activities which may be against the regulations on prohibiting group gatherings.
The Police has issued the Letter of Objection to the planned public procession on 1 October 2020. Any related activities will be regarded as unauthorised assemblies, and participation in them may be against the law. As at the end of September, a total of 46 civil servants have been arrested and currently under police investigation or charged for suspected involvement in unlawful public activities. All of them have been interdicted. I must stress that the Government places utmost importance on the conduct of civil servants and adopts a zero‑tolerance attitude towards civil servants who violated the law. Any such civil servants will not be tolerated. While there is a lot of distorted and fake information inciting people to participate in illegal procession on the internet, I trust that our colleagues are capable of distinguishing right from wrong, law abiding and up to the standards of conduct specified in the Civil Service Code.
In the past year or so, Hong Kong has been hit hard by social unrest and the pandemic. Thanks to the efforts from all parties involved, it is truly a blessing that a moment of relief has come. At this critical juncture, I count on all civil servants, the backbone of the Government, to continue working together in support of the HKSAR Government to safeguard a peaceful society and protect the interests of the people. Together, we will emerge from the pandemic and stride forward into the future under the New Normal!
Merry National Day and Mid‑Autumn Festival!