DAB joins $10,000 chorusas welfare crunch looms

The SAR's biggest pro-establishment party yesterday joined growing calls for Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po to consider a cash handout of HK$10,000, while social welfare groups gathered to demand a suspension of the social welfare department's non-emergency services.

Around 100 members gathered at the department's office in Wan Chai, demanding it suspend all services except home and care, provide guidelines for working from home and get protective equipment for staff.

Cheung Chi-wai, external vice-chairman of the Social Welfare Alliance, said reports have been received from over 20 organizations reiterating they only had less than one week's supply of protective gear .

The Social Welfare Organizations Employees Union said it will have a meeting next week to discuss whether they will strike to pressure the government.

Earlier in the day, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong met Chan to demand a HK$10,000 handout before the budget speech in two weeks.

Chairwoman Starry Lee Wai-king said people are panic buying supplies and worried about their reduced working time. Students might not have enough masks, which would affect studies as they could not attend classes when school resumes.

She said providing such a subsidy could alleviate pressure on residents to buy these necessities and tide them over during the difficult time when earnings are slashed.

"We think special arrangements should be made for a special case, and it is not necessary to wait until the budget to announce [it]," Lee said, adding that Chan did not directly respond to their suggestion but promised to consider it.

In other news, starting from today, nurses will be "strictly following health guidelines" regarding the use of masks and other protective gear in an action initiated by the Association of Hong Kong Nursing Staff.

The union called on nurses to ask for sufficient masks and protective equipment during work and report to the union in the event of failures to do so. The union will then urge the Hospital Authority to explain.

It had a special meeting on Tuesday, with a vote coming in at 57 to three in favor of "industrial action." This comes a week after thousands of health-care workers held a five-day strike to demand full border closure.

Elsewhere, pro-democracy group Demosisto started selling 100,000 masks online at 8pm last night for HK$98 per box, but the website showed it was sold out in just one minute.