The drastic steps taken against the latest pandemic wave are causing serious problems for foreign workers employed as domestic helpers, cooks or babysitters. Their representatives complain that people are being fired it they test positive, forced to sleep outdoors, and denied hospital care.
Hong Kong (AsiaNews) – More 7,500 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Hong Kong today, an exponential rise since the start month considering that until the latest outbreak only 12,000 cases had been reported.
The drastic containment measures adopted by local authorities are also having predictable repercussions on Hong Kong’s approximately 370,000 foreign workers, mostly Philippine and Indonesian women, who perform domestic work (cooking, cleaning and babysit) for families in the former British colony.
By law, these workers have to live with their employers, with a series of restrictions on their free time and right to change jobs.
In accordance with mainland China’s zero-COVID policy, Hong Kong police crack down hard on migrants, imposing heavy fines for non-compliance with social distancing rules.
Last Friday, a coalition of groups representing migrant workers said the already bad situation in which foreign workers have to live got worse as some workers are fired because they test positive, forcing them to sleep outdoors. Once unemployed, they are also denied hospital care.
For Dolores Balladares Pallaez, from the Asian Migrants Coordinating Body, “staying home means we have to work,” and workers need “compassion and help” from both the government and wider society.
Many have spoken out against this situation, which is certainly difficult and unclear, and affected by circumstances and politics.
By contrast, the Philippine Department of Labor and Employment yesterday denied reports that Philippine workers were being fired for testing positive for SARS-CoV-2; instead, it claimed that some were in hospitals, others were in isolation or had recovered. In total 28, Filipinos out of 170,000 had tested positive.
Speaking to the ABS-CBN network, Consul General Raly Tejada in Hong Kong said that the consulate would take legal action against “heartless employers” and defend Filipinos fired because of the pandemic since “it is against the laws of Hong Kong”.
Consul General Raly Tejada did acknowledge that the consulate had to help 10 Philippine workers forced to sleep outdoors after they were sacked, ostensibly because they had contracted the disease. All 10 were rescued and placed in medical facilities.