On 30 November 2017, the Centre for Health Protection of the Department of Health organised a public health exercise code-named GARNET at Wo Che Plaza, Shatin. The exercise was aimed at assessing the interoperability of government departments and organisations in response to the detection of a case of novel influenza, testing their execution of the Preparedness Plan for Influenza Pandemic, as well as enhancing the alertness and readiness of relevant stakeholders in guarding Hong Kong against novel influenza and the threat of the spread of communicable disease.