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Hands-on approach to mental illness

With the aim of combatting the fear and misconceptions surrounding mental illness, Castle Peak Hospital’s Mind Space museum enables visitors to experience hallucinations, similar to the sensory experiences mentally ill patients encounter, by way of rooms that utilise virtual reality (VR) technology.   A group of secondary students recently embarked on a journey through Mind Space after registering and receiving patient wristbands. This unique mental health experience museum provided them with a comprehensive understanding of the development of psychiatric services in Hong Kong.   Displays in the museum showcase intriguing relics, including the evolution of restraints and handwritten patient records. Additionally, the students were given the opportunity to explore a mock protection room designed to provide a calming environment for patients.   Furthermore, students could learn about the scientific aspects behind the causes of mental illness at the Brain Tour zone. One of the
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December retail sales up 6.2%

The value of total retail sales in December, provisionally estimated at $33.3 billion, rose 6.2% compared with the same month in 2020, the Census & Statistics Department announced today.   Of the total retail sales value in December, online sales accounted for 10.8%. Provisionally estimated at $3.6 billion, the value of online retail sales increased 31.5% year-on-year.   After netting out the effect of price changes over the same period, the provisional estimate of the volume of total retail sales for the month increased 3.4% compared with a year earlier.   The value of sales of electrical goods and other consumer durable goods, not elsewhere classified increased 5.5%.   This was followed by sales of jewellery, watches and clocks, and valuable gifts (+24% in value); other consumer goods, not elsewhere classified (+10.8%); commodities in department stores (+2.5%); wearing apparel (+12%); medicines and cosmetics (+9.7%); motor vehicles and parts (+8.7%); fuels (+18.4%); footwear, allied products and other clothing accessories (+15.5%); Chinese drugs and herbs (+4.7%); books, newspapers, stationery and gifts (+7.8%); and optical shops (+25.1%).   The value of sales of commodities in supermarkets decreased 6.8% for the period, followed by sales of food, alcoholic drinks and tobacco (-3% in value); and furniture and fixtures (-4.1%).   The Government said that the value of total retail sales increased further by 6.2% year-on-year in December along with the continued economic recovery, though the growth pace moderated somewhat from the preceding month. For 2021 as a whole, total retail sales value rose 8.1% but was still 27.2% below the level in 2018 before the recession as tourism stayed at a standstill.   Looking ahead, the Government noted that the latest wave of the local epidemic and tightened anti-epidemic measures have weighed on consumption sentiment and posed renewed pressures on the retail sector.   It is essential for the community to work together with the Government to contain the epidemic as soon as possible to create conditions for the continued revival of retail business and the overall economy, it added.
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