Immigration again extends contracts, cancels home leaves for FDHs

By The SUN

 

FDH contracts expiring by Sept 30 may be extended for up to 3 months

Hong Kong Immigration has again allowed foreign domestic helpers and employers to extend their employment contracts for up to three months amid continuing travel restrictions brought about by the pandemic. 

At the same time, those whose visas are expiring and would under normal times be required to go back to their home country before taking up a new job or after renewing a contract, will be allowed to extend their stay until the expiry date of their current contracts.

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In a statement released today, Jun 28, the government said the extension of visas and work contracts are measures aimed at helping both workers and employers cope with the Covid-19 pandemic.

All contracts expiring on or before Sept 30 this year may be extended for a maximum of three months, based on the mutual agreement of the worker and the employer. This means it cannot be extended if either party disagrees to the extension.

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However, as before, contracts which have already been extended under the previous flexibility arrangement announced in March, will no longer be extended again. In this situation, the employer should either apply for a contract renewal of their existing worker, or release her/him.

“It is an employer's duty to make advance preparations to arrange for their newly hired FDHs to come to Hong Kong within the three-month extended period of employment of their existing FDHs and/or arrange for contract renewal with their existing FDHs,” said the statement.

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As for extending the employment visas of FDHs who are due to return home for their “home leave” or end-of-contract vacation, Immigration says their visas may be extended up to the end of their current contract.

“If an FDH is unable to return to his/her place of origin within the aforementioned one-year period, he/she may, upon agreement with his/her employer, apply to the ImmD for a further extension of limit of stay until the end of his/her contract such that he/she may return to the place of origin within that period,” said the statement.

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The last time Immigration allowed this visa extension was on Dec 30, 2020.

But again, such an extension will be granted only if both the employer and the worker agree to such an arrangement.

“The government reminds employers and FDHs that the above flexibility arrangement must be mutually agreed between the employer and the FDH, and that the requirement that FDHs should return to their place of origin continues to be in place,” said the statement.

It added that the government will continue to close monitor the situation and review the two measures when necessary.

Indonesian DHs have been stopped from leaving for Hong Kong since Jun 25 

Currently, passengers from the Philippines or Indonesia, the two places where most of the FDHs come from, are not allowed to board a flight to Hong Kong, both having been specified as “extremely high-risk” countries for the coronavirus. Thus, even if workers are able to leave for their home countries, there is no assurance of when they could come back.

Because of the flight ban, newly hired domestic helpers from the two countries are also not able to assume the job waiting for them in Hong Kong. Philippines-based workers have been unable to leave since Apr 20, while the ban on passenger flights from Indonesia took effect on Friday last week.

Enquiries on employment rights and benefits may be directed to the dedicated Labour Department hotline, 2157 9537 (manned by 1823) or by email to fdh-enquiry@labour.gov.hk. The dedicated FDH Portal (www.fdh.labour.gov.hk) set up by the LD also provides information and useful links relating to the employment of FDHs.

For enquiries on FDH visa applications, contact Immigration by calling the enquiry hotline at 2824 6111 or by sending email to enquiry@immd.gov.hk.

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Female co-worker of Delta-infected man among 6 new cases

By Vir B. Lumicao 

Today's local case worked at Uptown Plaza, where the airport staff did parttime work

Six new coronavirus cases were reported in Hong Kong today, Jun 27, including a local woman who is a colleague of the male ground crew at the airport who tested positive for the Delta variant of the coronavirus on Jun 25.

The Centre for Health Protection said the local case, a 24-year-old woman, is a colleague of the 27-year-old ground crew of Hong Kong Airlines (case 11902) who worked parttime at Uptown Plaza in Tai Po.

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The CHP said the woman who last went to work on Jun 23 provided customer service at Uptown Plaza. She was moved to a quarantine centre the following day after her male colleague, identified as case 11902, tested preliminary positive.

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The CHP said the female patient developed fever yesterday, Jun 26 and was taken to hospital on the same day. Late today, the CHP confirmed she carried a mutant strain.

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She did not get vaccinated against Covid-19.

The government made a “restriction-testing declaration” on Block 10, Tai Po Centre, Tai Po, covering the tower where the patient resides, and an area nearby. The exercise began at 7:10pm today and will finish at about 7am tomorrow.

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People who were present at the venues where the patient visited at specified periods need to undergo compulsory testing on or before the specified date, the CHP said.

The five other new cases were a woman aged 22 who arrived from London on Jun 23, an Indonesian domestic helper aged 26 who arrived on Jun 18 from Surabaya, and a man aged 19 who flew in from London on Saturday.

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The CHP said two seamen aged 30 and 31 who arrived from Bangladesh on Jun 11 were close contacts of a 56-year-old  Bangladeshi seaman who was found dead on a cargo vessel anchored  on Hong Kong waters.

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Specimen samples taken from his corpse showed he carried the Delta variant. As a result, all 26 crewmembers of the ship were put under compulsory quarantine on board the vessel.

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All five imported cases were found carrying the L425R strain of the Delta mutation of the coronavirus, said the CHP. A staff said laboratory tests are going on to find out if they also carried the N501Y strain.

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Indonesian helper ‘tortured’ by employer, says migrant support group

By Daisy CL Mandap 

The Indonesian helper shows off her injured foot and hand (Mission photo)

An Indonesian domestic worker was hit repeatedly with a fishing rod by her male employer, leaving her with punctured hands. At another time, the same worker was left to cope with a large, open wound for two days, after a heavy aquarium she was made to carry fell on her foot.

These were just two of the alleged instances of abuse that the unnamed Indonesian worker was made to suffer, said the Asian Migrants Coordinating Body in a statement issued today, Jun 27.

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AMCB is due to hold a press conference this coming Tuesday, Jun 29, to give more details on the Indonesian domestic worker’s harrowing plight.                                                                                  

Before she was rescued on Jun 24, reportedly by a partner organization of the Mission for Migrant Workers, the Indonesian helper was “tortured to the point of disfigurement,” said the AMCB.

The aquarium incident reportedly happened when the male employer ordered the helper to carry a heavy aquarium all by herself, despite the presence of three fellow Indonesian workers in the same household. She dropped the aquarium, causing a huge open wound on her foot which was left untreated until two days later, when she was taken to a clinic to get stitches.

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In the earlier incident, the male employer reportedly got angry with the way the worker was fixing his fishing rod and decided to punish her. The employer told the helper to put out her hands, then repeatedly hit them with the fishing rod, causing the attached hook to puncture and leave holes on her skin.

Mission case officer Johannie Tong said the worker was one of four Indonesian domestic workers hired by a local family occupying a four-floor village house in the New Territories West. The family reportedly owned 65 dogs and kept several fishes in aquariums.

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Police were called after the male employer reportedly grabbed the worker by the hair and dragged her out to the front yard on the day of the rescue. “He was still yelling and kicking the victim, so her fellow worker called the police,” Tong said.

All four workers left the household after that, and are now being looked after in a shelter and a boarding house.

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Tong said all the workers complained of working long hours, like between 4am and 1am the next day, and not being allowed to take a day off. Each worker was assigned to a floor of the village house, and they were not supposed to interact with each other while at work. They had worked for the employers for between four months to two years.

Mission founder Cynthia Tellez with Erwiana, whose abuse by her employer made headlines all over the world

The latest case comes just two weeks after Filipina domestic worker named Eden fled her employer’s house in Tsuen Wan, claiming of repeated assaults by her female employer said to be a high school teacher.

Eden’s photos taken by her concerned fellow workers showed her with large contusions on her thighs and stomach, where she said she was hit by a metal food turner by her employer. She also bore long and deep scratch wounds on the back and front parts of her body, as well as pinch marks all over her trunk.

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The Mission says it is alarmed and appalled by the “marked increase” in the abuse committed against migrant workers during the pandemic, and has called yet again for a review of the live-in requirement for them, saying this is the main reason for the problem.

It cited a study published in its Service Report 2020, which showed a two-percentage point increase in physical abuse of migrants compared with the previous year. Sexual harassment or abuse surged even more, with the number tripling in 2020.

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“Hong Kong society should ensure that the workers here are always treated humanely,” said the Mission. “Both the Philippine and Indonesian governments should act swiftly to protect their workers against slave-like treatment and ensure that victims are provided redress and attain justice.

Tong said the Mission has not been told whether the Indonesian’s male employer and alleged abused has been arrested by the police.

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Health Sec sees vaccination rate going up to 50% by August

By The SUN

Chan says HK needs to reach a 70% vaccination rate to gain herd immunity

Secretary for Health Sophia Chan has welcomed a marked increase in the number of people getting themselves vaccinated against Covid-19, adding that she is hopeful the overall inoculation rate could go up to 50% by August.

She made her statement as the vaccination rate shot up to 3.5 million by Saturday night, with a record 58,400 people being jabbed in a single day.

Of the overall figure, 2.1 million have had their first shot of a vaccine, while 1.39 million had completed their vaccination by having the second jab.

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German-made BioNTech vaccines are heavily preferred over the Mainland’s Sinovac, by around 30% more.

 "The figures have been encouraging," Chan said during an RTHK program earlier in the day.

At the time, the total vaccination figure was 3.4 million, with about two million receiving their first job, representing about 30 % of all residents qualified to take the jab.

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"If we can keep this up, there's a chance for us to see a vaccination rate of over 50 percent in August or September," she said.

Saturday saw no new local case being recorded, but two imported ones nudged up Hong Kong’s total Covid tally to 11,991. One is an 18-year-old girl newly arrived from the United Kingdom, while the other is a 45-year-old male who flew in from Russia.

Meanwhile, the surge in new bookings continues, with about 30,000 people making online appointments on Saturday. On Friday, 33,500 had booked their vaccination appointments while 57,700 other people had received either BioNTech or Sinovac jabs.

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The take-up rate of between 97-98% ensures a steady increase in the overall tally.

The health secretary said a higher vaccination rate in Hong Kong could lead to a relaxation of social distancing measures. However, there is a need to boost this to at least 70% before the city can achieve herd immunity.

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But there is a big chance that even that target could be met . Chan said the infection situation in Hong Kong is improving, despite the discovery last week  of the first local case carrying the Delta variant. 

The male patient who worked at the airport, was found to have caught the virus from three newly arrived Indonesian domestic helpers who had stayed in the same part of the airport as he while waiting for the result of their post-arrival Covid-19 test.

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Earlier, a teen-age girl in Tin Shui Wai was found to carry a rare mutation of the Alpha variant, whose source remains unknown.

But Chan said sporadic cases are to be expected because of the spread of mutant strains abroad.

VACCINATION FIGURES AS OF 26 June:

	Number of persons receiving Sinovac vaccine	Number of persons receiving BioNTech vaccine	Total number of doses
First vaccine dose	923 300	1 199 300	2 122 600
Second vaccine dose	565 900	822 600	1 388 500

* The numbers are rounded to the nearest hundred.
 
     In the 24 hours ending at 8pm today (June 26), about 58 400 persons have received vaccination and about 30 000 new vaccination bookings have been made online. Details are as follows:
 

	Sinovac vaccine	BioNTech vaccine
Number of persons receiving first dose	10 700	19 600
Number of persons receiving second dose	9 500	18 700
Overall percentage of persons receiving vaccines at Community Vaccination Centres (CVCs)	97%	98%
Number of online bookings for receiving first and second vaccine doses	6 100	24 000

* The numbers are rounded to the nearest hundred.

    

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Labor Sec calls for shorter quarantine for returning overseas Filipinos

By Vir B. Lumicao 

Cacdac explaining OWWA's effort to bring home returning OFWs

Philippine Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III has called on officials implementing the country’s anti-coronavirus protocols to shorten the quarantine period for returning overseas Filipinos from the current 10 days to as short as 3 days.

Bello made the call in remarks during a town hall meeting on quarantine protocols for returning OFs and inbound travelers held on Friday, Jun 25, co-organized by the Department of Health and the Department of Labor and Employment.

The Inter-Agency Task Force on Covid control is currently implementing a 10-day quarantine for all inbound travelers. All new arrivals are taken directly to the quarantine facility, then tested for Covid-19 on the 7^th day. If they test negative they are allowed to leave on the 10^th day and continue the remaining four days of quarantine at home.

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The new rules shortened the hotel quarantine to just seven days for vaccinated arrivals, but only if they got their jabs in the Philippines. According to health officials, this is because it is difficult to ascertain the genuineness of vaccination records issued abroad.

This requirement was widely opposed by OFs who took part in the meeting, saying there should be an easy way for Philippine officials to check the authenticity of the vaccination certificates.

One of the suggestions was to get Philippine Overseas Labor Offices abroad to authenticate the documents. Another participant who is Hong Kong-based said certificates issued here are difficult to fake and could even be stored electronically.

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Bello said the immediate concern was to help get OFWs back with their families, especially if they have been vaccinated.

“We must always bear in the mind the situation of our OFWs,” the labor secretary said, citing the mental stress on those who just want to be with their families as soon as they arrive in the Philippines.

Bello tells town hall participants the facility-based quarantine period should be shortened

Others are given only a limited time for their vacation, or fly home on emergencies, such as a death in the family. He cited a case where an OFW who had gone home to see a family member for the last time missed the funeral because of quarantine restrictions.

Bello said he gets as many as 500 to 700 “messages of desperation” on his phone, even in the wee hours, from quarantined OFWs asking to be let out earlier.

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“The burden of the long quarantine period is there,” said Bello, who is himself a member of the IATF, which sets down pandemic protocols. It is headed by President Rodrigo R. Duterte and chaired by Health Secretary Francisco Duque III.

Administrator Hans Cacdac of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration supported the call, citing figures showing the low infection rate among returning OFWs. He said that the rate has gone down from 2% to just 1.3% lately, with the quarantine period being adjusted from 1 to 3 days, then 5 to 7, before 10 days.

But the health experts who spoke at the meeting, Drs  Alithea de Guzman, Eva Maria C. Cutiongco-de la Paz and Ma Teresita Cucueco, who is also assistant secretary of labor, took turns explaining the decision to extend the quarantine period amid the rise in the number of mutant virus being found in the country, mainly from returning residents.

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De Guzman pointed out the need to come up with a united national response to the pandemic by understanding the health problem and supporting the government’s strategy to keep the infection under control.

De la Paz, executive director of the UP National Institutes of Health and program director for Health at UP Philippine Genome Center, traced her agency’s work in tracking down the five variants of concern that have been found in the country.

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She said of the current five variants under study, the Delta, which was first detected in India, is causing the most concern among health officials worldwide due to its rapid infection rate. There are now 17 cases in the Philippines but no local case.

De la Paz showing how Delta has become the world's most dominant coronavirus variant 

De la Paz said the Delta variant has now spread to 85 countries after being brought in by international travelers. It has had three mutations, the L452R (the most prevalent) P681R, and T478K.

It is described by the World Health Organization as the fastest and fittest strain and easily spreads among those who haven’t taken the coronavirus vaccine.

Cucueco, on the other hand, explained relevant IATF resolutions on boarding and quarantine restrictions on inbound travelers, including Resolution 120, which shortened hotel quarantine for all vaccinated new arrivals to seven days.

But she admitted vaccination certificates issued abroad are still not being honored in the Philippines for the purpose of cutting short the facility-based quarantine.

Taking this as a cue, Bello said shorter quarantine could be used as an incentive for OFs to get vaccinated before flying home.

 “With due apologies, our recommendation is to reduce the quarantine period for those who have been vaccinated, especially for those who come home only for a few days of vacation, and for those who come home for medical and family emergencies,” Bello said.

He said it was unfair to compel all returning Filipinos to spend the same length of time in quarantine, even those who have already been vaccinated.

“How can you get our people to get vaccinated kung wala namang advantage ang vaccinated? So, iyan ang magandang pag-aralan natin,” Bello said.

He said that in the next IATF meeting, some new measures favoring OFWs should be taken up, including how to authenticate vaccination certificates obtained abroad.

OWWA's figures showing how many OFWs have been helped resettle back in the country

Cacdac used the chance to explain the services that OWWA provides returning OFWs, starting from their arrival at the airport, their quarantine and their eventual delivery to the bus terminals and airports.  He said the funds used for this comes from the national government and not the OWWA Trust Fund.

He showed data showing that around 600,000 returning OFWs have been helped by OWWA in resettling back in the Philippines since the pandemic began two years ago.

He also explained the different financial assistance extended by OWWA to distressed OFWs, including Akap, for those displaced by Covid; Tabang, which helps college-level kids of OFWs finish their schooling; and Tulong Puso, which gives cash grants to groups that come up with a viable business project.

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