Isolation camps debated for new helper arrivals

A health expert is calling for placing foreign domestic helpers in isolation camps upon arrival amid government plans to provide them with designated quarantine hotels.

Up to 4,500 Filipino helpers, an employment agency estimates, can fly over after Hong Kong starts receiving fully vaccinated workers from Monday.

Many employers claim they are in desperate need of household help amid a shortage due to pandemic flight bans, but they are also worried the new arrivals may bring the highly infectious Delta variant with them.

The Philippines reported a record 18,332 new cases yesterday as the Delta variant spreads across the country. More than 17 million Filipinos have received a first jab, bringing the country's vaccination rate to nearly 16 percent.

On a radio program yesterday, University of Hong Kong infectious disease expert Ho Pak-leung said the helpers could stay at the two isolation centers - the Penny's Bay Quarantine Centre and the Silka Tsuen Wan hotel - instead of quarantine hotels.

The helpers should undergo a medical monitoring period before coming to Hong Kong and should not sit next to each other on the plane, Ho added.

He said Hong Kong has recorded around 830 imported cases this year, and 40 percent of them are from the Philippines and Indonesia. He noted it is "inevitable" that the number of new cases would surge after foreign helpers flock to the city.

But another infectious disease expert, Joseph Tsang Kay-yan, said the health risks are limited as the helpers have to go through quarantine and repeated tests. Tsang also suggested that only some of the helpers be allowed to come over at first so that the quarantine hotels would not be overwhelmed.

Hong Kong Union of Employment Agencies chairman Thomas Chan Tung-fung said Philippine authorities are expecting about 3,000 Filipinos to come over - less than the domestic helper industry's estimates of between 4,000 and 4,500.

"It would be a great help because there has been no 'fresh blood' in the market for three to four months," Chan said. He said the helpers will be required to present a vaccination certificate stating their name, age, national ID number and which type of vaccine they have received.

Chan said many vaccinated helpers need to wait for one to two months for Manila to issue the certificate to them.

He said the Hong Kong government has plans to arrange for the helpers to stay in one or two designated quarantine hotels, but he is worried that may not be enough.

"The government has yet to announce which hotels will be used," Chan said. "I believe there should be at least 800 to 1,000 hotel rooms for helpers to stay in."

Betty Yung Ma Shan-yee, chairwoman of the Hong Kong Employers of Overseas Domestic Helpers' Association, said on another radio show that employers are "half happy and half worried." She added: "Some families are eager to find a domestic helper to take care of their elderly family members, but they are also worried about whether the vaccine received by the helper will provide sufficient protection."

The number of helpers coming to Hong Kong has dropped from 400,000 in 2019 to 370,000 last year, Yung said, urging the government to support domestic helper agencies.

wallis.wang@singtaonewscorp.com