Coronavirus: HK$3,900 daily for lockdown staff? Hong Kong to engage retired officers from disciplined services for Lunar New Year operations
- A memo sent to retired members by the Civil Service Bureau offered them HK$3,900 a day to work four days over Lunar New Year
- Duties would include visiting homes in high-risk buildings, helping with registrations, dealing with special cases involving elderly, controlling crowds, maintaining order
Hong Kong’s authorities are recruiting retired disciplined service officers to help with possible lockdowns during the Lunar New Year holiday next week, offering to pay them up to HK$3,900 (US$500) a day, the Post has learned.
A memo sent out to retired members by the Civil Service Bureau on Tuesday said that due to the swift spread of Covid-19 in the community, it was very likely that the government would need to mount several lockdowns and compulsory testing operations, which would require a large amount of manpower and support.
It stated that duties would include: “Visiting units of high-risk buildings, helping with registrations, dealing with special cases involving elderly, controlling crowds and maintaining order.”
The bureau expected the team to operate from 5pm until 2am or 3am between next Monday and Thursday. Those participating in the four-day operations would be paid HK$390 per hour.
Members would be hired under the Post-retirement Service Contract Scheme in the form of part-time and short-term contracts, and be equipped with sufficient protective gear and free Covid-19 tests.
The cluster at the Omicron-stricken Kwai Chung Estate – the largest public housing estate in the Kwai Tsing district – has continued to grow, with a total of 226 confirmed and preliminary-positive infections recorded there as of Monday.