Coronavirus: Hong Kong boosts helper quarantine capacity with 500 rooms from Tsing Yi hotel; city confirms 6 new imported Covid-19 cases

Newly designated hotel will take number of available slots to more than 1,900 overall, opening door for more domestic workers into crimped market

Labour chief Law Chi-kwong said move was made after taking into account improving pandemic numbers in the Philippines and Indonesia

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Hong Kong domestic workers queue for Covid-19 testing at Victoria Park earlier in the year. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Published: 2:35pm, 23 Oct 2021Updated: 10:57pm, 23 Oct 2021

The number of quarantine slots for domestic helpers in Hong Kong will jump by more than a third of the existing capacity from next month, with a hotel in Tsing Yi adding 500 rooms to the government scheme.

Labour chief Law Chi-kwong on Saturday said authorities were making the move after taking into account the improving Covid-19 situation in the Philippines and Indonesia, the two countries from which most of Hong Kong’s 370,000 helpers come.

The addition of the rooms at the Rambler Garden Hotel was also aimed at alleviating the pressure faced by local households struggling to hire helpers, he said in a social media post.

The 500-room Rambler Garden Hotel in Tsing Yi has been designated as a quarantine facility for arriving domestic workers. Photo: Facebook

News of the expanded room availability came as Hong Kong confirmed six imported cases on Saturday, with two from Britain and one each from Mongolia, Ukraine, Indonesia and France. The fresh cases pushed the city’s infection tally to 12,319, with 213 related deaths.

While no specific regulations currently limit the number of domestic workers entering the city, the fact only two quarantine facilities were originally designated to handle arriving helpers has created an effective cap, leading to bidding wars for their services in some instances.