Coronavirus: quarter of Hongkongers on regular care duties for loved ones during pandemic, with many feeling out of their depth, research reveals

One in four Hongkongers took on regular care responsibilities for their loved ones at home during the Covid-19 pandemic, but half of them said they lacked sufficient knowledge to manage the health risks of the coronavirus, according to new research.

In a stark warning to the city that called for a long-term strategy, medical experts urged the government to offer more support to “informal” carers, while ensuring community facilities and home-based services remained open to help them during the next potential wave of infections.

“The epidemic has exposed the weak spots in our public health care system. It also presents us with a good opportunity for a collective reckoning and societal changes,” said Professor Emily Chan Ying-yang, the assistant dean of Chinese University’s faculty of medicine, who co-authored the study.

The study by academics from CUHK and the University of Oxford was published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health in May, and involved citywide telephone surveys with 765 adults in Hong Kong between March 22 and April 1.

A quarter, or 192 respondents, said they provided regular home care to a total of about 300 family members including infants, school-age children, patients with chronic diseases and the elderly.

All of those are primary carers that spend four hours or more each day looking after their family, while more than half have to care for two people or more.

The researchers also found that one in five of the carers in the poll had used community services such as schools and day care centres to help those close to them before the Covid-19 outbreak, but about 40 per cent of those users had stopped or decreased their reliance on those facilities, which were forced to close during the health crisis.