The then Secretary for Food and Health stipulated in March last year a requirement on air change or air purifiers to be complied with by dine-in catering premises in the directions in relation to catering business under the Prevention and Control of Disease (Requirements and Directions) (Business and Premises) Regulation (Cap. 599F). The Working Group established for the smooth implementation of the requirement, together with representatives of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) and the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department, earlier inspected a Tuen Mun restaurant and a Central bar where clusters of infection cases had previously emerged, so as to acquire an understanding of the improvement measures made in relation to their ventilation systems by the qualified ventilation contractors engaged by the premises operators after the incidents.
The Chairman of the Working Group, Professor Yuen Pak-leung, said, "The ventilation requirement pursuant to the directions under Cap. 599F has entered another stage at the end of February this year after about a year of implementation, that is, if the registration on the designated website of the FEHD has not been completed on or before February 24 this year registering that the air change per hour of the premises has reached at least six times per hour or information on installation of air purifiers meeting the specified specifications, the relevant catering premises must be closed until the relevant registration has been completed and the FEHD has confirmed that the registration is valid."
During the inspection, the operators of the premises told the Working Group that apart from the cleaning and disinfection of the premises completed at the early stage, a series of repair works had also been carried out by their ventilation contractors for the ventilation system of the premises to improve the ventilation situation and air balancing, thereby reducing the risk of virus transmission. They will also strictly comply with the social distancing measures as advised by the Working Group, so as to avoid the recurrence of clusters of infection cases.
He continued, "The number of daily new cases in Hong Kong has been rising gradually from the recent level of 3 000. Operators, staff and customers of catering premises must not lower their guards to avoid emergence of large-scale infections happened overseas, which may give rise to pressure on the healthcare system. Operators of catering business premises should seriously check the ventilation systems of their premises, to ensure their effective operation, sufficient fresh air supply and even coverage of all zones of the seating areas."
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