To cope with the fifth wave of COVID-19 epidemic, the Government established a second Contact Tracing Office (CTO) in Mong Kok at the end of January 2022. Officers from different disciplined forces have been seconded to the CTO to assist in tracing persons who have come into close contact with confirmed cases, in a bid to break the chains of infection in the community. A group of retired police officers also contribute their personal time to volunteer at the CTO to support anti-epidemic work.

There are currently around ten volunteers at the CTO in Mong Kok, including retired Chief Inspector James Lee. James joined the Force in 1986 and retired in 2018. He had served in different formations such as the Criminal Intelligence Bureau and the Police Dog Unit.

Between January and February 2021, James joined the first CTO established in Kai Tak as a volunteer. During the initial operation of the CTO, James coordinated the work of volunteers and was responsible for arranging the set-up of the centre, preparing protective equipment for investigative officers who work outdoors, and using data collected by the computer system to draw graphs, etc. He often worked for more than ten hours a day. Given the ever-changing epidemic situation, the volunteers constantly raced against time to perform their duties.

In light of the deteriorating COVID-19 situation at the beginning of 2022, James found out that the second CTO was established in Mong Kok through a retired police officers’ group and he joined the CTO once again as a volunteer. Apart from being responsible for odd jobs and clerical work of the CTO, he was also given other tasks. He said, “I designed the logo of the CTO in Mong Kok. As most officers come from the three main disciplinary forces, I used blue to represent the Force, green to represent the Customs and Excise Department, and red to represent the Correctional Services Department, to symbolise our concerted efforts and unity in fighting the epidemic.”

James was among the first batch of officers who are responsible for contacting citizens who have been tested positive for COVID-19. He said, “When citizens receive a positive test result for COVID-19, they would receive a call from us on the arrangement for hospitalisation and we would remind them to cooperate with the tracing work of the officers of CTO. When citizens find out that they have been infected with COVID-19, they usually feel anxious and are emotionally troubled. We need to communicate with them patiently and provide them with suitable assistance.”

As the CTO needs a lot of manpower, James recruited other retired police officers as volunteers. James felt very touched when many retired officers responded to the call and began volunteering. Having served the community for a few decades, James said, “As the situation of the fifth wave of COVID-19 is deteriorating, the common goal for everyone from the CTO is to break the chains of infection in the community. We hope our work could support frontline officers to rise to the challenge.”