HELPERS RETURN TO CITY AS TRAVEL CURBS EASE
The boost in number of domestic workers important as more Hongkongers return to work with coronavirus outbreak receding, welfare minister says
More domestic workers arrived in Hong Kong over the past month, helping to ease a shortfall of helpers, the welfare chief revealed yesterday, but he warned more would be needed to ensure economic recovery was not jeopardised.
Secretary for Labour and Welfare Law Chi-kwong attributed the increase to the government’s decision last month to lift a flight ban on nine countries, including the Philippines, and relax the number of infected passengers required to trigger the city’s flight suspension mechanism.
“This can ensure the shortage of foreign domestic workers will not become an obstacle for Hong Kong’s economic recovery,” he said in his official blog.
The announcement came as health officials reported 266 coronavirus infections, of which 25 were imported, and two more deaths. The city’s overall tally now stands at 1,206,585 cases and 9,346 related fatalities.
Meanwhile, Law said the number of domestic helpers working in Hong Kong increased to about 332,000 at the end of April, after reaching its lowest point, 328,000, in late March.
But the figure remains lower than the about 400,000 helpers who were reported to be working in the city in 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic began in early 2020.
Law said 4,005 and 2,188 domestic workers from the Philippines and Indonesia, respectively, had arrived in Hong Kong since authorities started to gradually relax the city’s strict travel measures last month.
Foreign domestic helpers account for one-tenth of the city’s labour force and 5 per cent of Hong Kong’s entire population of 7.48 million. Such workers are present in 15 per cent of all local households.
Law said about 16,000 domestic helpers had obtained work visas and were waiting for arrangements to come to the city.
However, he said the city could face a shortage of helpers as the coronavirus outbreak continued to recede, with more Hongkongers expected to go back to work and spend less time at home.
Hong Kong’s labour force could only return to work if the number of domestic helpers started to increase, he said.
Betty Yung Ma Shan-yee, chairwoman of the Hong Kong Employers of Domestic Helpers Association, said it was “good news”, noting the rebound could serve as a possible indication that coronavirus outbreaks in workers’ home countries were starting to subside.
“If the outbreaks remained erratic in the workers’ home countries, we wouldn’t be reassured enough to let them return to their home countries,” she said, adding that helpers would feel more comfortable returning to Hong Kong if flights remained more consistent.
But Yung also clarified that the drop in domestic workers arriving in Hong Kong was also due to the effects of the city’s fifth wave of cases. She said many helpers were left jobless, with employers no longer able to afford to hire them and some opting to take care of their children full-time.
Yesterday’s coronavirus tally also included four infections that were reported in connection with a cluster at the Peony Golden Court restaurant in Yuen Long, bringing the number of patients involved to eight.
The cluster, which first emerged at the eatery on May 1, led officials to order about 190 people to undergo mandatory testing on Saturday.
However, Dr Albert Au Ka-wing, the Centre for Health Protection’s principal medical and health officer, said neither the restaurant’s employees nor the eight environmental samples collected from the premises had come back positive.
Au said health authorities suspected the cluster had been caused by a short-distance airborne infection.
Meanwhile, residents celebrated Buddha’s Birthday during the first long weekend since the government further relaxed social-distancing curbs on Thursday.
This can ensure the shortage of foreign domestic workers will not become an obstacle for Hong Kong’s economic recovery
LAW CHI-KWONG, WELFARE MINISTER