LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 28 April 2021 5189 OFFICIAL RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Wednesday, 28 April 2021 The Council met at Eleven o'clock MEMBERS PRESENT: THE PRESIDENT THE HONOURABLE ANDREW LEUNG KWAN-YUEN, G.B.M., G.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE ABRAHAM SHEK LAI-HIM, G.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE TOMMY CHEUNG YU-YAN, G.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE JEFFREY LAM KIN-FUNG, G.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE WONG TING-KWONG, G.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE STARRY LEE WAI-KING, S.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE CHAN HAK-KAN, B.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE CHAN KIN-POR, G.B.S., J.P. DR THE HONOURABLE PRISCILLA LEUNG MEI-FUN, S.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE WONG KWOK-KIN, S.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE MRS REGINA IP LAU SUK-YEE, G.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE PAUL TSE WAI-CHUN, J.P. THE HONOURABLE MICHAEL TIEN PUK-SUN, B.B.S., J.P. 5190 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 28 April 2021 THE HONOURABLE STEVEN HO CHUN-YIN, B.B.S. THE HONOURABLE FRANKIE YICK CHI-MING, S.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE YIU SI-WING, B.B.S. THE HONOURABLE MA FUNG-KWOK, G.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE CHAN HAN-PAN, B.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE LEUNG CHE-CHEUNG, S.B.S., M.H., J.P. THE HONOURABLE ALICE MAK MEI-KUEN, B.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE KWOK WAI-KEUNG, J.P. THE HONOURABLE CHRISTOPHER CHEUNG WAH-FUNG, S.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE ELIZABETH QUAT, B.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE MARTIN LIAO CHEUNG-KONG, G.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE POON SIU-PING, B.B.S., M.H. DR THE HONOURABLE CHIANG LAI-WAN, S.B.S., J.P. IR DR THE HONOURABLE LO WAI-KWOK, S.B.S., M.H., J.P. THE HONOURABLE CHUNG KWOK-PAN THE HONOURABLE JIMMY NG WING-KA, B.B.S., J.P. DR THE HONOURABLE JUNIUS HO KWAN-YIU, J.P. THE HONOURABLE HOLDEN CHOW HO-DING THE HONOURABLE SHIU KA-FAI, J.P. THE HONOURABLE WILSON OR CHONG-SHING, M.H. LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 28 April 2021 5191 THE HONOURABLE YUNG HOI-YAN, J.P. DR THE HONOURABLE PIERRE CHAN THE HONOURABLE CHAN CHUN-YING, J.P. THE HONOURABLE CHEUNG KWOK-KWAN, J.P. THE HONOURABLE LUK CHUNG-HUNG, J.P. THE HONOURABLE LAU KWOK-FAN, M.H. THE HONOURABLE KENNETH LAU IP-KEUNG, B.B.S., M.H., J.P. DR THE HONOURABLE CHENG CHUNG-TAI THE HONOURABLE VINCENT CHENG WING-SHUN, M.H., J.P. THE HONOURABLE TONY TSE WAI-CHUEN, B.B.S., J.P. PUBLIC OFFICERS ATTENDING: THE HONOURABLE MATTHEW CHEUNG KIN-CHUNG, G.B.M., G.B.S., J.P. CHIEF SECRETARY FOR ADMINISTRATION THE HONOURABLE PAUL CHAN MO-PO, G.B.M., G.B.S., M.H., J.P. FINANCIAL SECRETARY THE HONOURABLE TERESA CHENG YEUK-WAH, G.B.S., S.C., J.P. SECRETARY FOR JUSTICE THE HONOURABLE WONG KAM-SING, G.B.S., J.P. SECRETARY FOR THE ENVIRONMENT DR THE HONOURABLE LAW CHI-KWONG, G.B.S., J.P. SECRETARY FOR LABOUR AND WELFARE 5192 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 28 April 2021 THE HONOURABLE JOHN LEE KA-CHIU, S.B.S., P.D.S.M., J.P. SECRETARY FOR SECURITY THE HONOURABLE FRANK CHAN FAN, J.P. SECRETARY FOR TRANSPORT AND HOUSING PROF THE HONOURABLE SOPHIA CHAN SIU-CHEE, J.P. SECRETARY FOR FOOD AND HEALTH THE HONOURABLE EDWARD YAU TANG-WAH, G.B.S., J.P. SECRETARY FOR COMMERCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT THE HONOURABLE MICHAEL WONG WAI-LUN, J.P. SECRETARY FOR DEVELOPMENT THE HONOURABLE KEVIN YEUNG YUN-HUNG, J.P. SECRETARY FOR EDUCATION THE HONOURABLE PATRICK NIP TAK-KUEN, J.P. SECRETARY FOR THE CIVIL SERVICE THE HONOURABLE ALFRED SIT WING-HANG, J.P. SECRETARY FOR INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY THE HONOURABLE ERICK TSANG KWOK-WAI, I.D.S.M., J.P. SECRETARY FOR CONSTITUTIONAL AND MAINLAND AFFAIRS THE HONOURABLE CASPAR TSUI YING-WAI, J.P. SECRETARY FOR HOME AFFAIRS THE HONOURABLE CHRISTOPHER HUI CHING-YU, J.P. SECRETARY FOR FINANCIAL SERVICES AND THE TREASURY CLERK IN ATTENDANCE: MR KENNETH CHEN WEI-ON, S.B.S., SECRETARY GENERAL THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE TO ANSWER QUESTIONS PUT BY MEMBERS. LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 28 April 2021 5193 THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE'S QUESTION TIME PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Members please remain standing while the Chief Executive enters the Chamber. (The Chief Executive entered the Chamber) PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): The Chief Executive's Question Time. PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Members who wish to ask questions please press the "Request to speak" button. The Question Time should be conducted in a "short question, short answer" format. Each Member will be given 3 minutes to ask questions to and receive replies from the Chief Executive. The time for a Member to ask a question should not exceed 1.5 minutes. MS STARRY LEE (in Cantonese): Chief Executive, the coronavirus epidemic in India is getting out of control, with more than 300 000 new confirmed cases in a single day for the sixth day in a row, coupled with the emergence of a highly transmissible multi-mutant variant. There is grave concern that it may spread to the neighbouring countries at any time, which will cause the global epidemic situation to deteriorate again. In Hong Kong, there are also virus variants spilling over to the community, thus showing that the risk of virus transmission must not be neglected. In the face of a possible rebound of the epidemic, the SAR Government needs to stay vigilant and immediately review and strengthen various defence lines to prevent the importation of cases and spreading of the virus in the community. However, Chief Executive, to overcome the epidemic, in the long run Hong Kong must count on vaccination to keep the gate. Yet Hong Kong still lags behind the target of having 60% to 70% of the population vaccinated to form herd immunity. Many people have expressed their wish that ways can be found to encourage more people to receive vaccination. Among them, allowing people who have received two doses of vaccine to travel to the Mainland, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area ("the Greater Bay Area") or Macao without the need for quarantine or with a shorter quarantine period is 5194 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 28 April 2021 something on which many people hope the Chief Executive can help communicate with the Central Authorities and the Greater Bay Area. Regarding the quarantine exemption arrangement, can the Chief Executive inform the public of the current progress and whether she is confident that it can be achieved within a short period? It is because currently, the epidemic in Hong Kong is already kept under a reasonable level of control. CHIEF EXECUTIVE (in Cantonese): I thank Ms Starry LEE for bringing up the series of anti-epidemic work in Hong Kong. Let me go through it briefly. On 12 April, I announced a new direction in fighting the pandemic, which precisely seeks to enable Hong Kong as well as Hong Kong's enterprises and people to return to normality in a gradual and orderly manner while continuously strengthening the measures to prevent the importation of cases. For high-risk or extremely high-risk places, we have already adopted the most stringent flight suspension measure. As mentioned by Ms LEE, vaccination is still the most effective way to facilitate early resumption of our normal life. Hence, continuous efforts are made in this regard. Nevertheless, as I have repeated time and again, this requires the mutual agreement of both parties, just like our recent discussion on "travel bubble" with Singapore. So we are exploring with Macao and the Mainland in this direction too. Now we have no concrete results to announce yet, but I can say that we are working hard in this direction. To show that the epidemic situation in Hong Kong is stable and to give other places confidence in facilitating people flow with us, we really need to increase the vaccination rate. At the moment, it leaves much to be desired. MR STEVEN HO (in Cantonese): President, the institutional framework of the Hong Kong SAR Government has been frequently criticized by the people of Hong Kong. Senior officials often meddle in minor issues while junior officials have little power. As far as the recent epidemic is concerned, government departments on the Mainland and those in the Hong Kong have created a lot of problems for the fishermen, including the one about the survey of vessels. Under normal circumstances, we should be able to have our vessels surveyed on the Mainland, but now we cannot do so. Nor can we get the "overlength endorsement" in Hong Kong, that is, the berthing permit for overlength vessels during the fishing moratorium. We cannot apply for government loans either. I know that actually the SAR Government has done a lot of work in the fight LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 28 April 2021 5195 against the epidemic, but these minor issues have got to be addressed by the Government as well. The typhoon shelters will face a very big problem in the future. I hope the Chief Executive still remembers that shortly after her assumption of office, I asked a question about berthing spaces for small vessels. Even 80-year-old men or 90-year-old fishermen cannot get on and off their vessels normally. To get onto their vessels, every day they have to use an improvised crossing and cross more than 10 boats, as though they are hurdling, before they can reach their berthing spaces.