Hong Kong Employment Agencies Association chairman Teresa Liu said delays in visa processing due to work-from-home arrangements had caused at least 6,000 migrant domestic workers (PRT) to stay in dormitories while they were waiting for visas to return to work in Hong Kong. Thursday (6/8/2020).
According to RTHK, Liu’s comments came after authorities said they were trying to find 28 migrant domestic workers and their employers, after it was revealed that an Indonesian domestic worker tested positive for COVID-19, and had been living in a boarding house with the workers while she was searching. new job.
Speaking to a radio program RTHK, Liu said that now the waiting time for visas was down to two months, due to official delays related to the government’s work from home policy imposed as part of social distancing measures.
She said that in the past, agents usually had around 10 migrant domestic workers living in dormitories to wait for visas, but during this pandemic the dormitories have to accommodate dozens of women from Indonesia and the Philippines.
Liu said dozens of migrant domestic workers represented by his agency had been barred from leaving their boarding houses, and required to wear masks at all times to reduce the risk of contracting Covid-19. They should also have their temperature checked regularly. But he admits that not all agencies can carry out such discipline.
According to Liu, the suggestion by University of Hong Kong microbiologist Dr Ho Pak-leung to conduct mass testing on all migrant domestic workers who are waiting for visas in dormitories is not a good idea. Liu said even if their test results were negative, some of them stayed there for weeks and it would be difficult to track their condition constantly.
“Now in our boarding house, we have to take their temperature every morning and evening, and then we don’t let them out, and then they have to clean their living quarters twice every day,” said Liu.
On the same radio program after Liu was the chairman of the Employers’ Association in Hong Kong, Betty Yung, who called on authorities to ensure all migrant domestic workers follow Covid-19 measures.
Yung said he saw workers not wearing masks when they congregated in places like Causeway Bay on their days off.
He said that employers cannot force their workers to stay home during holidays, and what they can do is ask workers to take all precautions, and remind their domestic workers of the anti-epidemic restrictions imposed by the government.
Yung also said that several employers suffered from mental health problems, after his domestic workers insisted on going out on their days off.
