By The SUN
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| If quarantine rules are eased, more migrant workers will be able to enter HK, recruiters say |
Employment agency
operators are calling for home quarantine for foreign domestic workers coming
into Hong Kong, or if that is not feasible, for their hotel quarantine to be
cut to just three or four days.
The call came after
Labour Secretary Law Chi-kwong said in a blog post that the lifting of the
flight ban on the Philippines on April 1 had led to a total of 4,005 Filipino workers
to arrive in Hong Kong last month.
This was the biggest
number of FDW arrivals from the Philippines since the Covid-19 pandemic
prompted tighter border controls two years ago, said Law.
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An additional 2,188 FDWs
arrived from Indonesia at the same time, also another post-pandemic record.
Law said frequent
flight suspensions also cut the number of people flying in from Indonesia at
the same time.
Despite the surge in
arrivals, the labour chief said 16,000 other FDWs with employment visas remain
stuck in their home countries.
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From a peak of more
than 400,000 in 2019, the total number of FDWs had plummeted to 328,000 at the
end of March this year.
That went up slightly
to 332,000 by the end of last month, and Law said he hoped the rise in the
number of FDHs would continue.
He noted that with
fewer FDWs coming in, many working residents had to give up their jobs to stay
at home and look after young children or elderly family members.
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“If the number of
foreign domestic helpers can be increased, more labour force can be released to
return to the market,” Law wrote in his blog.
This prompted employment
agency operators for an easing of the quarantine requirements for incoming
FDWs, including allowing them to quarantine at the home of their employer.
Thomas Chan, head of
the Hong Kong Union of Employment Agencies, said the easing of the coronavirus
situation in the Philippines and Indonesia is shown by the fact that no flights
from either country was suspended last month.
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The so-called “circuit
breaker mechanism” is triggered when an incoming flight carries a certain
number of infected passengers into Hong Kong. Currently, the threshold is five
passengers on each flight testing positive on arrival.
Due to limited
quarantine hotel rooms, he said it would take another three months before all the stranded
workers are able to come in.
Chan suggested the government allow home quarantine, or if this is not possible, to shorten the quarantine period for helpers from seven days to four days.
He is also asking that
some of the makeshift quarantine facilities most of which are now vacant, to be set aside for occupancy by FDWs, at minimal cost to
employers.
Chan said industry
members expect between 5,000 to 6,000 more migrant workers to arrive this month
and next, if no more flight suspensions are meted for flights coming from the
Philippines and Indonesia, and the quarantine rules are eased further.
