Secretary for Innovation & Technology Alfred Sit today visited Victoria Park to see how footfall monitoring at New Year flower sale points is aided by technology to enhance anti-epidemic measures.

Mr Sit inspected onsite arrangements and received a briefing by officers from departments involved in the project.

The Infrared Sensing and the Light Detection and Ranging devices will be deployed at entrances and exits. The footfall data collected will be disseminated to a dashboard developed by the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) after computation.

The data will then be displayed on the Food & Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) thematic website as well as the Transport Department’s HKeMobility app for public reference.

Mr Sit expressed his gratitude for this collaboration between departments in bringing technology into footfall monitoring.

Members of the public will be able to purchase New Year flowers at sale points in an orderly manner and under a manageable risk while observing anti-epidemic social distancing measures, he added.

With the concerted efforts of the FEHD, the Electrical & Mechanical Services Department and the OGCIO, information and communications technologies such as sensors, the Internet of Things and wireless networks will be used to count visitor numbers at flower sale points.

The estimated footfall will serve as a reference for FEHD officers to put in place suitable control measures at the sale point entrances.

Footfall data at each sale point will be released on the Public Sector Information Portal in a machine-readable format.

Such data will also be available via Application Programming Interface for use by the industry in developing mobile applications to make it convenient for public use.

Additionally, the FEHD said the New Year flower sale points set up at the 15 sites originally designated for the Lunar New Year fairs will be opened from February 6 to 11.

The footfall and waiting status of the 15 sale points will be displayed in a green, amber and red lights format on site, on the FEHD website (Chinese only) and the Transport Department’s HKeMobility app.

When the footfall at a sale point increases, the amber or red light will be on, meaning only people with a ticket will be admitted to the venue.

The FEHD will then activate the ticketing system so that visitors may get a ticket on site or obtain an e-ticket through the mobile app that can be downloaded for free. Enquiries can be made to 2868 0000.