Budget Speech

Riding out the Storm

Fighting the Virus Together

21. It is the Government's top priority to contain the epidemic so that businesses and the public can be back to their daily routines.  A high-level Steering Committee cum Command Centre led by the Chief Executive was set up in January 2020 to formulate strategies and measures swiftly in response to the development of the epidemic with a view to achieving the target of zero infection.  I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to those joining the fight against the epidemic, including healthcare staff as well as businesses and individuals who have been supporting the Government's anti‑epidemic measures.  I will continue to provide adequate resources to fully support the anti- epidemic work.

22. The Government strives to step up surveillance and testing efforts.  In order to identify cases in the community as early as possible to help cut the transmission chains, various means are provided to collect specimens up to about 100 000 for testing each day.  At present, the actual testing capacity of public and private laboratories in Hong Kong has reached the level of over 100 000 tests per day.

23. The Government has allocated $4.7 billion from the Anti‑epidemic Fund (AEF) to support the anti‑epidemic work of the Hospital Authority (HA), ensuring sufficient support and protection for frontline healthcare staff.  The Government also provides an additional allocation of $3,044 million mainly for the HA to establish and operate the Community Treatment Facility at the AsiaWorld-Expo and the Hong Kong Infection Control Centre at the North Lantau Hospital.  The former has commenced services in phases since last August, and the latter from the end of this month.

24. The Government has earmarked over $8.4 billion for the procurement and administration of COVID‑19 vaccines.  Our target is to have the majority of the population vaccinated for free within 2021.  The COVID-19 Vaccination Programme which started yesterday will provide vaccination for five priority groups of citizens.  The Government will seek funding support from the Finance Committee (FC) of the Legislative Council (LegCo) in the end of this month to establish a vaccination indemnity fund with $1 billion.