By Daisy CL Mandap
 |
| Law says making FDHs submit to regular testing needs to be justified (File photo) |
Secretary for Labour Law Chi-kwong has again deflected suggestions
from a legislator to tighten anti-epidemic regulations targeting foreign
domestic helpers, including making them submit to regular tests for Covid-19.
In his written reply to questions raised by Wong Kwok-kin in
the Legislative Council session, a copy of which was released in the government news portal today, Jan. 20, Law said such a move needs to
be studied carefully.
“As to the suggestion to mandate FDHs to receive testing
regularly, the Government has to carefully consider the justifications for
implementing targeted mandatory measures, including objective justifications
such as the development of the pandemic, infection cases, risk management,
effective use of resources, etc. and to undertake detailed analysis. The
Government will closely monitor the situation and examine and implement
effective anti-epidemic measures, Law said.
He also said FDHs have responded well to
offers of free testing offered by the government since December last year.
"From December 18, 2020 to January 10, 2021, more than 25
000 FDHs received free testing at community testing centres, of which seven
samples were found to be positive and had been referred to the Centre for Health
Protection for confirmatory tests and follow-up,” said Law.
Apart from this, more than 9,000 FDHs reportedly availed of
the government’s offer of one-off Covid-19 testing for all those staying in
boarding facilities of employment agencies.
“The testing figures above show that quite a number of FDHs
have received testing voluntarily. Also, it is understood that some employers
would arrange FDHs to receive testing at private organisations on their own,”
said Law in his response.
Alongside the targeted voluntary testing for FDHs, the
latest of which is due to end on Jan 31, the government has reportedly
tightened enforcement of gathering rules and mask-wearing in public.
Responding to Wong’s request for statistics, Law submitted a
table showing the number of fixed penalty notices, each costing $5,000, issued
by law enforcers who staked out known FDH haunts across the city for the past
several weekends.
 |
Wong asked for figures on the number of fixed penalty tickets issued to FDHS
|
As of Jan 10, a total of 81 FDHs were reportedly issued
penalty tickets by the police and officers of the Leisure and Cultural Services
Department (LCSD) for violating Cap. 599G, which allows only two people to
gather in public.
A further 18 FDHs were slapped with the hefty fine for not
wearing a face mask in a public place, in contravention of Cap 599I.
The penalty notices were issued in various places, from
parks and gardens, to footbridges and pedestrian walkways, as well as hiking
trails.
In another response to Wong’s questions, Law ruled out banning
the use of tents by FDWs in public places during Sunday.
Wong’s question was ‘whether it (the government) will
consider prohibiting any person from setting up tents in public places during
the epidemic, so as to discourage FDHs from gathering and sharing meals in
public places during weekends and holidays, thereby reducing the risks of the
epidemic spreading; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that..”
 |
| The legislator also wants a ban on the use of tents in public places |
Law’s response was that the LCSD allows users of its parks
and other venues “to use some light appliances for shade which are smaller in
size and do not need to be specially constructed” as long as it’s done during
the daytime.
In addition, they should observe social distancing rules and
wear masks while using LCSD’s parks.
Law cited statistics to back up his claim during an earlier
question and answer session in LegCo with another legislator that the rate of
infection among FDHs is far lower than that of the general public.
Law said that as of Jan 17, there were 265 confirmed Covid-19
cases among FDHs who recently arrived in Hong Kong,
and 245 cases involving those who were already here.
The total infection rate among them is just 0.05 percent of Hong Kong’s updated Covid-19 tally of 9,798 cases.
Law used the same argument when he slammed a proposal by
legislator Elizabeth Quat on Jan 13 for a weekend lockdown on FDHs.
The labour chief said there “is no good reason” to target
FDHs for a lockdown”. Besides, such a move could amount to discrimination.
