In the beginning of 2021, I wish our colleagues health, joy and peace.
In late November last year, the epidemic situation in Hong Kong developed into the fourth wave of outbreak, and this new wave of outbreak is particularly menacing. As of today, although the situation has eased, it remains severe. Overseas cases show that mutated coronavirus strains have made the disease a lot more contagious. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government must take decisive actions and respond swiftly by leading the entire civil service as well as people from all walks of life to remain in a state of war against the pandemic.
Strengthening the nucleic acid tests of COVID-19 is not only an important measure for preventing the rapid spreading of the epidemic, it is indeed the key to our fight against the virus. To this end, we will continue to focus on expediting tests and enhancing our testing capacity to achieve the maximum testing coverage. The recent decision of the Government that a compulsory testing notice will be issued if two unlinked confirmed cases are detected in the same building within 14 days is precisely a measure under this strategy.
At the same time, we must also make all-out effort in the epidemiological investigation and tracing on close contacts of the confirmed cases to curb the spread of the disease as soon as possible.
The World Health Organization and our experts have all pointed out that it would be hard for us to be rid of the COVID-19 pandemic before there were effective vaccines and extensive inoculation. For that, we have been making proactive and vigorous efforts to procure vaccines, and until recently, finally have a breakthrough in the procurement.
I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all relevant departments and colleagues for your joint effort in fighting the virus and your selfless contributions to curbing the new wave of the epidemic.
Our target is to be able to launch a thorough large-scale vaccination programme as soon as possible. The preparatory work of all relevant departments will be completed by the end of this month. Taking into account the delivery time of the vaccines, it is anticipated that we can offer free doses to members of the public earliest in next month. In parallel, the Government will continue to implement all the anti‑epidemic measures with a view to allowing the Hong Kong population to resume their daily activities as soon as possible and business activities to return to normalcy gradually.
To get all the work properly done in testing, epidemiological investigation, contact tracing and vaccinating, we not only need to apply technologies but also mobilise more manpower. Currently, different departments are deploying their staff for or are directly engaged in anti‑epidemic duties. To cite a few examples, the Home Affairs Department and all its District Offices are responsible for coordinating the compulsory testing covering entire buildings, and the disciplined services staff are assisting in tracing close contacts. Nevertheless, the scale and capacity of manpower is still insufficient. We need much more and stronger support from you!
Next, we will continue to engage all departments to deploy more civil servants, on the condition of not affecting their levels of services, to enhance the Government’s abilities in preventing and fighting the virus. In particular, in implementing the vaccination programme, the Government will set up community vaccination centres across the territory and also arrange other medical facilities to provide free vaccination services for the public. This will involve large-scale planning, coordination, liaison and support requiring cooperation of different departments. I firmly believe that the civil service, being the backbone of the Government, will continue to unite and stand as one in supporting the HKSAR Government to launch the territory-wide vaccination programme such that all the people in Hong Kong will receive the vaccination in a safe, proper and orderly manner.
I would like to thank our colleagues for standing together in the fight against the virus in the past year. Year 2021 will be a crucial time in our anti‑epidemic work. Surely, we will not let our guard off, and will do our best to enable the lives of all people and our economic activities to return to normalcy at the soonest. Hong Kong will definitely win this battle against the pandemic.