Civil Service College Hosts Talk on International Law and Diplomacy for Hong Kong Officials

Civil Service College holds talk on "Current International Law Landscape and Treaty and Legal Affairs in Diplomacy"

The Civil Service College (CSC) today (July 13) held a talk in the series on the country's foreign affairs jointly with the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (OCMFA) in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). The talk was delivered by the Director General of the Department of Treaty and Law of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), Mr Qi Dahai. The theme of the talk was "Current International Law Landscape and Treaty and Legal Affairs in Diplomacy".

Addressing the talk, the Secretary for the Civil Service, Mrs Ingrid Yeung, said that with this year marking the beginning of the country's 15th Five-Year Plan, Hong Kong must proactively align with national strategies, accurately identify its own positioning, and better leverage its institutional strengths under "one country, two systems" to make greater contributions to the overall development of the country.

Mrs Yeung added that as a pivotal force in the governance of Hong Kong, civil servants shoulder the important responsibility of accurately understanding the national development strategies, grasping changes in the international landscape, and enhancing the capability for external engagement. When handling matters related to international organisations, overseas institutions and cross-boundary co-operation projects, civil servants should deepen their understanding of international law, enhance their awareness of national security and risk assessment capabilities, and effectively apply rule-of-law thinking to actively dovetail with the country's diplomatic strategies, thereby safeguarding national interests and Hong Kong's prosperity and stability.

About 250 senior officials and civil servants in the directorate and senior ranks attended the talk at the Central Government Offices today.

The CSC and the OCMFA have been jointly organising this series of talks on the country's foreign affairs since late 2021. The series invites relevant officials of the MFA to speak on various topics, with a view to enhancing civil servants' international perspective, awareness of national security and holistic views.

Source: AI-found images

Princess Margaret Hospital responds to the detection of Legionella in water samples

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

The spokesman for Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) made the following reply today (July 13) regarding The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health announced the detection of Legionella in water samples taken from PMH:

In response to a 39-year-old male patient who had stayed in the high dependency unit of the Neurosurgery Department and the Intensive Care Unit of PMH was confirmed to have Legionnaires' Disease (Serogroup 1), CHP visited PMH in late June for collecting water and environmental samples for testing. The preliminary test result showed there are four out of 25 water samples collected from Neurosurgery high dependency unit and Intensive Care Unit are tested positive for Legionella (Serogroup 1). 15 other environmental samples are tested negative for Legionella (Serogroup 1).

The hospital is very concerned about the issue and co-operating with CHP to investigate the source of infection. The hospital has implemented a series of measures to protect the health of patients and staff, including the arrangement of thorough cleaning and disinfection of relevant water supply system in the wards concerned from late June to now. CHP has conducted environmental sampling afterwards.

The hospital has conducted contact tracing investigation in accordance with the prevailing infection control guidelines. No concerned patient has been reported of Legionnaires' disease so far. The hospital has already followed the CHP's advice and implemented a series of follow-up measures, including:

1. installing bacterial filters for related water faucets in high risk wards of the same building; and
2. providing extra boiled or bottled distilled water and body wipes to related wards for patients requiring hygienic or oral care on their own.

The case has been reported to the Hospital Authority Head Office according to established guidelines. The hospital will also cooperate with the CHP to investigate the case. In addition to the above precautionary and improvement measures, the hospital will continue to closely monitor the situation of patients in the hospital.

Source: AI-found images