Secretary for Environment & Ecology Tse Chin-wan yesterday visited a Kwun Tong hotpot restaurant, where a cluster of COVID-19 cases had previously emerged, to learn about the improvement measures on ventilation and exhaust systems taken by its operator.

Mr Tse was there to scrutinise the enhancements made in relation to the restaurant’s ventilation systems by the qualified ventilation contractors engaged by the premises’ operator after the incident.

The catering establishment was instructed to comply with the air change requirement under Prevention & Control of Disease (Requirements & Directions) (Business & Premises) Regulation (Cap 599F) and the licence condition which requires an air change per hour of at least 15 times in the seating area.

Mr Tse said the working group has been maintaining communication with the trade in a professional manner and provided valuable advice for the successful implementation of the ventilation requirement in dine-in catering premises under Cap 599F.

“The professional opinions and support of the working group have played a pivotal role in and significantly contributed to the prevention and control of the epidemic.

“I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the chairman and members of the working group for taking time out of their busy schedules to assist the trade and the Government to rise above the challenges of the epidemic. I am in full support of their work."

The working group’s chairman, Prof Yuen Pak-leung, noted that from May to July 22, among the 18,000 catering premises or so, a total of 462 had been issued with compulsory testing notices due to having been visited by those with confirmed cases.

Among them, only 15 premises were considered by the Centre for Health Protection as being involved in an outbreak and most of the cases involved failure to execute air change measures including switching on, operating, repairing or maintaining relevant systems and equipment properly.

Prof Yuen emphasised that there could be other contributing factors such as whether social distancing measures had been strictly observed or not.

The working group listened to the reports of the relevant departments in a timely manner on the 15 catering premises with clusters of infection cases, then discussed and analysed the operation situation of the ventilation systems in the premises, and examined whether it could propose room for further improvement, he added.