Letters | Why Covid test order for all Hong Kong helpers was ill-considered

The long queues on May 1 put testing facilities under strain and increased the risk of infection spreading, apart from being unfair to helpers

Coronavirus pandemic

Letters

Published: 7:15am, 8 May 2021

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The Hong Kong government has ordered all 370,000 foreign domestic helpers in the city to get tested before May 9 and initially announced plans to require all of them to get vaccinated before the renewal of their contracts, because two of them were found to be infected with mutated strains of the coronavirus.

Philippine Consul General Raly Tejada pointed out that the consulate has been supportive of Hong Kong’s free and voluntary vaccination programme and has actively campaigned in support of it. However, he didn’t think the authorities should force only foreign domestic helpers to be vaccinated. If vaccination is required to acquire the right to work in Hong Kong, he argued that it should be adopted equally and without bias.

I was surprised by the government’s announcement, because 370,000 is not a small number. Testing such a large number in a short period of time doesn’t seem feasible because there are only a limited number of testing centres and mobile specimen collection centres (“Flexibility urged as thousands of Hong Kong helpers scramble to get Covid-19 tests”, May 7). Extending the opening hours of testing centres may not be of much use to helpers.

On May 1, there were many long queues at the testing centres. Did this increase the risk of infection spreading? Moreover, processing thousands of tests at one go presents an unmanageable workload for the testing companies and the government.

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Many helpers had to spend their day off queuing up to get tested. Would any of them be compensated for the lost time off? Would there be negative repercussions if they asked their employer for time to take the test on a weekday? Also, employers need to ensure workers have a safe working environment, so shouldn’t they also be vaccinated? I hope helpers’ rights can be guaranteed.

Such policies are controversial because they might end up stigmatising helpers. Although the government has denied charges of discrimination, many people might think the government is targeting this group with good reason, leaving society with a negative impression of helpers in general.

This is the first time that the government has ordered such wide-ranging mandatory testing. It should consider if its services can really meet the demand created. The government should also consider public opinion more seriously before it adopts such measures.

Hugo Yiu, Tuen Mun

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