HONG Kong’s foreign domestic workers are being “abandoned” in the current coronavirus wave sweeping the city, with some denied treatment after testing positive or forced to sleep rough, said charities today.

The Chinese financial hub is currently in the throes of its worst-ever Covid-19 outbreak, registering thousands of confirmed cases a day as hospitals reach breaking point.

Hong Kongers live in one of the most densely packed cities in the world and rely on about 370,000 foreign domestic workers, mostly women from Indonesia and the Philippines who cook, clean and care for their families.

Foreign domestic workers must live with their employers, cannot easily swap jobs and are entitled to only one day off a week.

A coalition of groups representing migrant workers today said the already grim pandemic conditions have plunged further in the current outbreak.

Some workers had been sacked after testing positive, forcing them to sleep outdoors, while others found themselves denied treatment at hospitals.

Eni Lestari, an activist and Indonesian domestic worker, said her peers have been on the “frontlines” helping families throughout the pandemic.

“Now we are being neglected, we are being denied services, we are being abandoned,” she told reporters.

“We are very alarmed and very angry.”

Calls for compassion

Activists said many Hong Kong employers are refusing to let their domestic workers leave often cramped apartments even on their day off, while some have been fired for taking their rest day.

“For us, staying home means we have to work,” said Dolores Balladares Pallaez from the Asian Migrants Coordinating Body, adding that workers need “compassion and help” from both the government and wider society.

The coalition said police ramp up social distancing fines for domestic workers each weekend, adding that penalties can be higher than their monthly wage.

Like mainland China, Hong Kong has stuck to a rigid zero-Covid policy that has largely kept the virus out, but left the international business hub cut off for the last two years.

Those defences have now come crashing down with the highly infectious Omicron variant entry into the local community after infected flight crew and residents returned from overseas.

Authorities announced more than 12,000 positive cases yesterday. Prior to the current outbreak, Hong Kong recorded just 12,000 infections for the whole pandemic.

The current outbreak has caught the government off guard, with few preparations in place for dealing with zero-Covid being breached.

Authorities have since scrambled to locate thousands of hotel rooms and unused public housing blocks to isolate the infected and a location to build a temporary hospital.

It has also sought help from the Chinese mainland.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam, who currently rules out a China-style citywide lockdown, said about 20,000 hotel rooms have now been located.

Authorities are also considering testing the entire city, but no concrete details have yet been announced.

Local media reported that citywide testing may begin next month, but by that time, modellers predict Hong Kong may have as many as 28,000 cases a day.

It is also unclear where Hong Kong will house and isolate so many positive cases.

While rival business hubs like Singapore have moved to living with the virus, the city is unlikely to follow suit because of poor vaccination rates among the elderly and pressure from Beijing to stick to zero-Covid.

Earlier this week, Chinese leader Xi Jinping called for Hong Kong to take “all necessary measures” to suppress the current outbreak. – AFP, February 18, 2022.