The Government welcomed the passage of the Smoking (Public Health) (Amendment) Bill 2019 by the Legislative Council today.

Meeting the media at the LegCo Complex, Secretary for Food & Health Prof Sophia Chan said the Government will reinforce its efforts on tobacco control through a multipronged approach in order to achieve the target of reducing the city's smoking prevalence to 7.8%.

It will focus on two aspects of work when reviewing the current tobacco control policies - the prevention of second-hand smoke and smoking cessation.

Prof Chan noted that the non-smoking areas will be expanded to protect people from exposure to second-hand smoke.

On smoking cessation, the Government will capitalise on the newly set up district health centres (DHCs) or DHC expresses in the community to facilitate people to quit smoking.

"We will try our best to add the focus of not only helping people who are traditional cigarette smokers, but also smokers that have been taking heated tobacco products or the dual smokers," the health chief said.

She added that the Government will formulate a timetable for achieving a tobacco endgame in Hong Kong, while at the same time preventing people from becoming new smokers.