The Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) announced in a statement yesterday that it will organise a two-phase anti-pandemic community cleaning campaign along with the health authorities and a string of associations, with the first phase starting today.

The five-month campaign, the statement noted, aims to increase public concern for “community cleaning and public hygiene protection”, and jointly create a “solid front” of COVID-19 pandemic prevention through work such as strengthened disinfection of public streets and facilities, and key hygienic screening and precautionary disinfection of buildings once locked down as Red Code Zones.

With the slogan “Stay vigilant in epidemic prevention and control, join community cleaning together”, the campaign aims to maintain the local community’s overall environmental hygiene and together prevent the potential spread of epidemic diseases during the government’s “normalised period”, which starts today, in its ongoing COVID-19 prevention and control measures.

The statement pointed out that in the first phase the bureau will conduct targeted hygienic screening of low-rise buildings once locked down as Red Code Zones. The bureau will also conduct “precautionary cleaning and disinfection” of building clusters in the northern district with a high population density and “unsatisfactory hygienic conditions inside”.

The statement underlined that the bureau has been deploying additional personnel and street-cleaning vehicles to cleanse pavements and roads in local districts with diluted bleach and high-pressure water jets since the beginning of the recent outbreak. Additional personnel have also been sent to wipe public facilities including public escalators’ handrails and parking meters, as well as to spray disinfectant down public drains, roadside barriers, and railings.

Vendor areas, markets with high visitor flows and public toilets have special teams conducting enhanced disinfection, the statement noted. The work will continue to be conducted during the anti-COVID-19 control and prevention normalised period.

The campaign’s second phase, meanwhile, will run from September to December “through a trilateral collaboration between the government, associations and the public” to jointly implement various public hygiene measures. The statement added that the bureau will work with various associations to conduct community cleaning activities in different districts during this phase and organise members of the public to clean public facilities in different districts to raise pandemic prevention and public hygiene awareness.

Moreover, during the second phase, public awareness measures will be increased to encourage people to take the initiative to clean their buildings’ environment and improve and maintain public hygiene, among others. 

This poster provided by the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) yesterday promotes its anti-pandemic community cleaning campaign.