Urgent call for shelter as 14 helpers may go homeless tonight

Fourteen foreign domestic helpers who tested positive for Covid-19 are now urgently seeking shelter, or they will go homeless tonight after they were banished from the employers' homes.  

Lawmakers Stephen Wong Yuen-shan staged a press conference on Tuesday afternoon along with PathFinders Hong Kong, Christian Action, and HELP for Domestic Workers, which have been receiving 68 cases so far.  

Among them, 56 have tested positive for Covid-19, and only 42 have been taken in by shelters or churches. Most of them saw their contracts terminated by employers after testing positive. Five completed the contracts and tested positive when they were about to leave the city.  

The groups said they understand employers' concerns about being infected by the helpers but pointed out that sacking them is not a humane way to deal with the issue.  

Cheung-Ang Siew-mei, executive director of Christian Action, said many places now running to admit these homeless helpers are full, and rising numbers are becoming more overwhelming than ever.  

Cheung-Ang added that they recently identified a retreat center and hoped to use it to house the helpers. However, they later found out that the retreat center cannot open to the public according to government regulations.  

A proper isolation facility is needed because the places run by these organizations are no official quarantine centers, she noted.  

Catherine Gurtin, chief executive officer of PathFinders, on the other hand, urged the government to provide more resources and clearer instructions as she pointed out that these helpers need even a visa to stay at their employers' homes.  

Manisha Wijestinghe, executive director of HELP for Domestic Helpers, continued that many helpers are alone in Hong Kong and don't have other extended families to take them in.  

Although they have been working closely with representatives from the Labour Department, packing 11 helpers in one room, some infected and some not, is not an ideal solution, according to Wijestinghe. She also said that Hong Kong is a dense city, and there aren't that many variable options to house helpers that tested positive.  

Wong said these cases reported by the groups are probably the tip of an iceberg, and there are social minorities who also face a similar situation as he challenged the government's transparency of arranging patients to isolation facilities.