Chairman’s Announcements (August 28)

Dear Students and Colleagues,

After the summer break, I believe all of you must be excited about starting your studies or work in the new academic year.  For the new students, welcome to this beautiful campus of CUHK.

You may still remember that SARS attacked Hong Kong and other neighboring regions earlier this year.  All schools, including universities, had suspended classes for weeks to prevent the spread of the disease.  With concerted efforts of all members of the community, SARS was eventually brought under control and Hong Kong had been removed from the WHO’s list of areas with recent local transmission of SARS on 23 June. 

The CUHK Campus (SARS) Task Force, which was set up in March to advise the University on SARS-related matters, had implemented a range of SARS preventive measures, and coordinated the efforts of various offices to prevent the spread of SARS on campus.  During the summer, the Task Force has embarked on a number of hygiene improvement programmes, including cleaning and disinfection of all buildings on campus, and upgrading of sanitary facilities.  In order to be well-prepared for the possible recurrence of SARS, a Special Purpose Residence has been set up to provide alternative accommodation for hostel-resident students who are on home confinement but are unable to return home for various reasons.  Please refer to our announcement on the Special Purpose Residence for Hostel-Resident Students.

The SARS outbreak has brought up an important message that our health is inter-related with our living environment.  To safeguard our health, we must adopt good personal and public hygiene.  Our website provides useful information on SARS prevention, including Important Notices – New Academic Year and Guidelines & Recommendations.  Please take a look.  For students staying in hostels, please also read our Notice to Hostel-Resident Students of All Colleges

Let’s all join hands to create a clean and healthy environment.

May I wish all of you good health and happiness!

Prof. Jack Cheng

Chairman

CUHK Campus (SARS) Task Force

Chairman’s Announcements  (August 14)   

With concerted efforts of all members of the community, we have successfully brought the deadly disease SARS under control.  However, we should continue to maintain our vigilance as we don’t know whether it will come again.  To prevent the re-emergence of SARS, adopting good personal hygiene and maintaining a clean and healthy environment are very important. 

The Task Force would like to report that a number of hygiene improvement programs have been undertaken during the summer break.  The Estates Management Office (EMO) is carrying out a major cleaning and disinfection of all buildings in campus.  The cleansing schedule can be found at (http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/sars/cleanschedule8.pdf).  EMO has completed inspection of drainage systems at 117 buildings on campus in May/June 2003.  The drainage systems are found to be satisfactory except in several buildings.  EMO is following up on the repairs and replacement work to rectify the problem.  Around 220 washrooms will be upgraded with environmental friendly facilities such as jet towels, automatic water taps and motion sensor operating fans.  The whole project will be carried out in 2 phases and is scheduled to be completed by the end of October 2003.

Various orientation activities will be held in August to welcome the new students to our University.  The Task Force would like to urge organizers and participants to take into consideration the SARS preventive measures when conducting these activities, in particular, ensuring good ventilation, keeping facilities clean, and observing food hygiene.  Please refer to the Guidelines for Organizing Activities (http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/sars/summer.htm).  The University Health Service (UHS) is maintaining a quantity of ear thermometers for body temperature screening.  Organizers of group activities may contact the Nursing Officer of UHS to borrow a few of the thermometers for mass screening purpose.  As part of the new student orientation activities, UHS will conduct talks for all new students to provide information on the University’s SARS preventive arrangements.  More details on New Student Orientation Activities are available at http://osanta.osa.cuhk.edu.hk/StudentO/2003/.

Although Hong Kong has successfully got rid of SARS, the Task Force would like to advise staff and students to continue practicing good personal hygiene, especially washing hands regularly, covering nose and mouth when sneezing or coughing, and wearing mask if they develop a runny nose, sore throat and cough.  Please refer to the SARS prevention guidelines (http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/sars/prevention.htm). 

In order to let the university have a better understanding of the health condition of returning and new hostel-resident students, all of them are required to fill in a SARS questionnaire when they check in at their hostels.  If any of them is feeling unwell, they should seek medical treatment at UHS or consult their doctors at once.

The Government has earlier implemented that close contacts of confirmed or suspected SARS patients are required to undergo home confinement for 10 days.  The Task Force has noted that if SARS comes again, some hostel-resident students, who happen to be considered as a close contact, may have genuine difficulties in returning home.  Rather than letting these students to continue to stay at their hostels, a ‘Special Purpose Residence’ under the management of UHS has been set up to provide accommodation for them.  Details of the Special Purpose Residence is available at (http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/sars/sp_residence.htm).

In the wake of the recent outbreak of influenza-like illness in the community, the Task Force would also like to remind staff and students to take precautions against influenza and other emerging infectious diseases.  Influenza vaccination, which can be obtained at UHS, is effective in reducing complications due to influenza especially among the elderly and patients with chronic cardiac or respiratory diseases.  More detailed information on influenza, dengue fever, cholera and other diseases can be found at UHS website.  Please also refer to Preventive Measures against Dengue Fever prepared by the Safety Office.

The Task Force will continue to closely monitor any new development on SARS and will keep staff and students informed accordingly. 

Please take a look at our newly re-designed webpage.