Minutes of Special Meeting of the Southern District Council (2020-2023)
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Minutes of Special Meeting of the Southern District Council (2020-2023) Date : 12 February 2020 Time : 2:30 p.m. Venue : Near Ocean Court, 3 Aberdeen Praya Road Present: Mr LO Kin-hei (Chairman) Mr Paul ZIMMERMAN (Vice Chairman) Mr CHAN Hin-chung Mr CHAN Ping-yeung Ms CHAN Yan-yi Mr LAM Andrew Tak-wo Mr LAM Ho-por, Kelvin Ms LAM Yuk-chun, MH Mr Jonathan LEUNG Chun Ms LI Shee-lin Mr PANG Cheuk-kei, Michael Mr POON Ping-hong Mr TSUI Yuen-wa Mr WONG Yui-hei, Angus Mr YIM Chun-ho Mr YU Chun-hei, James Miss YUEN Ka-wai, Tiffany Agenda Item 1: Discussion of Aberdeen Jockey Club General Out-patient Clinic (GOPC) as Designated GOPC (SDC Paper No. 10/2020) [2:30 p.m. - 3:39 p.m.] The Chairman said that in view of the emergence of the Severe Respiratory Disease associated with a Novel Infectious Agent (COVID-19), the Southern District Office (SDO) was unable to provide secretariat services and venue for this special meeting. Therefore, this meeting was held near Ocean Court, 3 Aberdeen Praya Road. 2. The Chairman continued that this agenda item, with details at Annex 1 to SDC Paper No. 10/2020, had been put forward by Mr CHAN Hin-chung and Mr WONG Yui-hei, Angus. They had requested to hold an SDC special meeting to discuss matters relating to the Government’s decision on including Aberdeen Jockey Club GOPC as a “designated GOPC” for COVID-19. In view of the grave concerns of the general public on the above matters and the urgency of the issue, approval had been given for holding this special meeting. The written reply from the Food and Health Bureau (FHB) and the Hospital Authority (HA), i.e. Annex 2 to SDC Paper No. 10/2020, had previously been emailed to members. 3. The Chairman asked Mr CHAN Hin-chung to briefly introduce the agenda item. 4. Mr CHAN Hin-chung briefed members on the agenda item as follows: (i) the department concerned had hastily included Aberdeen Jockey Club GOPC as a “designated GOPC” for COVID-19 without prior consultation with the Council and briefing residents on the situation. This arrangement was inappropriate. Aberdeen Jockey Club GOPC was in close proximity to residential buildings and Shek Pai Wan Lift Tower frequented by residents in Shek Pai Wan Estate and Yue Kwong Chuen. There was a high people flow in the neighbourhood of Aberdeen Jockey Club GOPC; and (ii) a multitude of evidence indicated that COVID-19 was highly contagious. Despite that the department concerned had indicated that COVID-19 was transmitted primarily through either respiratory droplets or close contact over a short distance of one or two metres, it was suspected that the COVID-19 cases of Cheung Hong Estate had been attributable to the transmission of the virus through pipes across floors instead of transmission through either respiratory droplets or close contact over a short distance. In this light, the department concerned had yet to fully understand the modes of transmission of COVID-19, and it was highly possible that the virus could be 2 transmitted via air. He stressed that he did not mean to object to setting up a “designated GOPC”, but was of the view that the department concerned should have consulted the Council and residents first before determining the sites for “designated GOPCs”. 5. The Chairman asked Mr WONG Yui-hei, Angus to briefly introduce the agenda item. 6. Mr WONG Yui-hei, Angus briefed members on the agenda item as follows: (i) many residents had expressed objection to the inclusion of Aberdeen Jockey Club GOPC as a “designated GOPC”. In addition to their worries about close proximity to residential buildings and high people flow in the vicinity of the proposed site, they were sceptical about the effectiveness of the Government’s anti-epidemic work in the community. For instance, a lack of transparency in the notification mechanism of suspected and confirmed COVID-19 cases would prevent building management bodies from taking immediate follow-up actions, as well as SDC members from receiving prior notice of the selected site for “designated GOPC”; (ii) the COVID-19 cases of Cheung Hong Estate were very likely a sign of COVID-19 outbreak in the community. As the transport hub of the Southern District, Aberdeen was populous, it was worried that residents would be infected when travelling in public transport means to and from the “designated GOPC” or passing through the “designated GOPC”, thereby triggering community outbreak of COVID-19 in the Southern District; and (iii) he expressed disappointment at the department concerned for failing to send representatives to attend this meeting. As residents in the Southern District had grave concerns over this issue, it was hoped that the department concerned could squarely address local aspirations. The Government was requested to temporarily withdraw the plan to include Aberdeen Jockey Club GOPC as a “designated GOPC” for COVID-19, and enhance its anti-epidemic and planning work in the community. 7. The Chairman said that three provisional motions had been received before the meeting. The three motions were as follows: (i) Provisional Motion 1 (Moved by Mr CHAN Hin-chung and Mr WONG Yui-hei, Angus and seconded by Miss YUEN Ka-wai, Tiffany) 3 “This Council strongly condemns the Government for not doing enough in epidemic prevention without complete closure of the border control points and introduction of compulsory quarantine of suspected cases, which resulted in the worsening epidemic of Wuhan pneumonia and further spreading in the community. The Council objects to the inclusion of Aberdeen Jockey Club GOPC as a “designated GOPC” in a hasty manner without consulting the community. The Council requests that: 1. HA should immediately abandon the plan and identify another public facility at a far distance from the town centre and the people as a “designated GOPC”; 2. HA should as soon as possible inform residents of the details of the site selection criteria for “designated GOPCs”, specific procedures for handling suspected cases by GOPCs, protection and quarantine facilities, disinfection arrangements, etc. so as to allay public concerns; and 3. the SDO and the Department of Health (DH) should immediately rectify the confusion in the dissemination of epidemic information and strengthen the promotion of epidemic prevention and health information in buildings.” (ii) Provisional Motion 2 (Moved by Ms CHAN Yan-yi and Miss YUEN Ka-wai, Tiffany and seconded by Mr WONG Yui-hei, Angus) “The Council strongly condemns the Government for the failure in handling the two confirmed cases in the Southern District and the notification mechanism of confirmed cases as a whole. As a result, the patients of the two confirmed cases have shown symptoms at earlier times but the relevant departments and stakeholders were not notified, which increased the risk of community outbreak. The Council requests that: 1. the Government should immediately improve the notification mechanism of suspected and confirmed cases; and 2. the Government should immediately notify SDO, District Council (DC) members, building management offices and owners’ corporations when there are suspected or confirmed cases for the parties concerned to immediately adopt inspection, cleansing or quarantine measures to prevent community outbreak.” (iii) Provisional Motion 3 4 (Moved by Mr Jonathan LEUNG Chun and Mr TSUI Yuen-wa and seconded by Mr CHAN Ping-yeung) “The SDC objects to the use of the Ocean Park’s hotel as a quarantine centre or quarantine camp because the Marriott Hotel at the main entrance of the Ocean Park and Wong Chuk Hang San Wai Village are just separated by one road, and the hotel is close to the elderly homes of the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals and Po Leung Kuk. If the hotel was to be used as a quarantine facility, it would not be useful in preventing the spread of the epidemic, but would cause unnecessary panic in the community.” 8. The Chairman invited Ms CHAN Yan-yi and Miss YUEN Ka-wai, Tiffany to briefly introduce Provisional Motion 2. 9. Miss YUEN Ka-wai, Tiffany briefly introduced Provisional Motion 2 as follows: (i) on the day before this meeting (i.e. 11 February 2020), the departments concerned announced two confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the Southern District, which were the 44th case involving a patient living in Tung Ping House, Lei Tung Estate, and the 46th case in Tin Chak House, Tin Wan Estate. According to the information on the website of the Centre for Health Protection (CHP), the dates of onset of the two patients were 1 and 3 February 2020 respectively, which were eight and ten days before the respective dates of announcement. During that period, the Government did not notify the organisations and departments concerned, including the relevant buildings, SDO, DC members of the constituencies concerned and estate management offices. Hence, they had no knowledge of the cases. After the confirmed cases were announced by the Government, the residents of the estates showed concerns but DH had not notified the relevant departments so far, which revealed that communication was highly ineffective. Apart from this, the departments concerned did not notify the Housing Department (HD) and the DC members of the constituencies concerned after the two confirmed cases were announced, and the information on the website was not updated in a timely manner. She and the estate management offices had received many enquiries and the information was confusing; and (ii) during the eight to ten days between the dates of onset and the dates of announcement of the confirmed cases, the patients had access to and from the estate repeatedly but cleansing or disinfection of the affected areas to which the patients had accessed were not enhanced due to the lack of notification.