[New Coronary Pneumonia] Who is responsible for foreign domestic helper testing? The government should improve the epidemic passage system

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Written by: Review Editor

2020-06-15 17:50

The sudden outbreak disrupted people’s normal living arrangements, including foreign domestic helpers’ work arrangements that accounted for 10% of Hong Kong’s overall workforce and reached 390,000 (as of March 2019). As the epidemic slows and is expected to exist in society for a limited period of time, how to restore a series of economic and cultural exchanges, including foreign domestic helpers, has become a problem to be solved in Hong Kong society.

Under the influence of the epidemic, the introduction of foreign domestic helpers has been affected in many ways. On May 3, the Philippines suspended all passenger flights to and from the Philippines from 8 am. Zhang Jiemin, chairman of the Hong Kong Employment Agents Association, said that about 700 Filipino domestic helpers need to be cancelled each month, and the domestic helper market will continue to run short. On May 20, the Indonesian Ministry of Labor also announced a total suspension of labor export.

Cracking down on the livelihoods of foreign domestic helpers also caused a shortage of supply. An intermediary company said that there is no new helper information on hand to introduce to the employer. The consulates of the two countries will no longer accept new applications, so the business is close to shut down. And a large number of intermediary companies have only 10% or 20% of their business turnover for many months in a row.

As of March 2019, there were 391,586 foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong. (Photo by Liang Pengwei)

Foreign domestic helpers need quarantine support

Therefore, with the slowdown of the epidemic, the Hong Kong Employment Association said on Sunday (June 14) that the Philippines and Indonesia will be gradually lifted, which is good news for Hong Kong citizens and the foreign domestic intermediary industry. It is just that the Hong Kong Employment Association expects about 8,000 foreign domestic helpers to come to Hong Kong in the next three months. It is worth thinking about how to balance the epidemic prevention arrangements and the needs of employment.

According to a survey conducted by the Employment Association in early June to nearly 2,000 employers who are waiting for foreign domestic helpers to come to Hong Kong, 95% of employers resisted living with strangers under quarantine. Even if this psychological factor is excluded, 85% of the employers surveyed said that there was no separate room and toilet in their homes for use by foreign domestic helpers during quarantine, making it difficult to ensure the safety of epidemic prevention. The same problem exists in the dormitory of the intermediary company. The layout shared by 5 to 10 people is not suitable for quarantine. On the other hand, some employers tried to contact the hotel to solve the problem, but it was finally reflected that many hotels were full.

Study "Tourism Safety Circle"

Labor and Welfare Secretary Luo Zhiguang once said in March that it is the responsibility of employers and intermediary companies to provide quarantine sites for foreign domestic helpers. However, when a large number of foreign domestic helpers are expected to face quarantine demand in the short term, it is not an exaggeration for the government to assist employers and intermediary companies to coordinate for a special period. In the survey of the Employment Association, most employers are willing to bear the economic cost of foreign domestic quarantine, but they cannot provide quarantine space because of objective reality. Therefore, on the one hand, the Government assists in co-ordination in facilities, because FDHs are not only the needs of individual families, but also benefit the overall Hong Kong labor market. On the other hand, it is also because during the epidemic situation, the government's unified arrangement or public health and safety of all citizens are more guaranteed.

In addition to the arrangement of the foreign domestic helper market, as the epidemic slows and economic exchanges gradually return to normal, the government should also consider how to balance the demand for epidemic prevention and the convenience of foreign economic exchanges. For example, with the stabilization of the New Coronary Pneumonia epidemic in Asia, the Thai government intends to relax the entry restrictions and sign a "tourism safety circle" reciprocal agreement with countries or regions that have achieved anti-epidemic measures without the need for forced isolation or self-isolation. At present, Hong Kong is actively planning a health code project that facilitates the communication between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao. At present, there are still many concerns about the applicable population of health codes and testing costs. Since then, with the economic recovery and the needs of citizens, in addition to strengthening the health code, Hong Kong should also refer to Thailand’s approach to establish a new epidemic system that facilitates communication with the larger region.

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