Covid-19 updates; Data-base of foreign language interpreters

8:30am-9:15am: Covid-19 updates

8:30am-9:00am: David Costello (mid in photo), the Consul General of Ireland to Hong Kong and Macau

8:30am-9:15am: Benjamin Cowling, Head of the Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, HKU

9:00am-9:15am: Paul Leung, Chairman, Hong Kong Inbound Travel Association

9:15am-9:30am: call for a data-base of foreign language interpreters

9:15am-9:30am: Prof Sin King-kui, Dean, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, UOW College Hong Kong 

On Monday’s Backchat: Covid-19 updates, and a call for a data-base of foreign-language interpreters. 

Hong Kong has now gone more than 45 days without a local Covid-19 infection, but many restrictions remain in place, including social distancing measures and limits on public gatherings, while flights from high risk places, including the UK, remain suspended.

Meanwhile, England marked its so-called "freedom day" a week ago, ending almost all restrictions despite an increase in coronavirus cases.

Is now the right time for us to ease Covid-19 measures? When should we open the border? What should we make of England's policy?

From 9:15am-9:30am, we’re discussing the Ombudsman's observation that difficulties encountered by government departments in securing the services of foreign language and Chinese dialect interpreters can affect the efficiency of some of their operations.