The surging infections prompted the government to impose the city’s first lockdown in the area on January 23 and 24, and it included the Reclamation Street building where Rai’s family lives.

Pandemic relief offered to Hong Kong’s ethnic minority families

The district is home to many members of ethnic minority groups, mostly South Asians, many of whom were among those infected in the outbreak.

The pandemic made life more challenging for a community already struggling with language barriers, financial woes and discrimination.

Hong Kong-born and raised, Rai brought his wife and son from Nepal to Hong Kong last December, but they were caught off guard when they fell ill soon after.

Rai’s cousin, who works at a Nepalese grocery store, was the first to be confirmed infected and stayed in hospital from January 17 to February 7.

Rai was next to have his infection confirmed, on January 19, after having a sore throat, headache and fever. He was in hospital for 10 days.

His wife and son tested positive a day after him, and were in hospital until February 2. His cousin’s husband, a construction worker, was in hospital for the shortest time, from January 20 to 24.

Rai says he felt guilty that his desire for a family reunion resulted in his wife and son falling ill.

His absence from work cost him a month’s income of HK$21,000 (US$2,700), and he is still sorting out his wife’s hefty medical bill of HK$65,000. She would have been charged less if she had a Hong Kong ID, but had not received it yet as her application was held up by disruptions caused by the pandemic.

Explainer: The Covid-19 vaccines for Hong Kong, and what suits you

He says discrimination against those from ethnic minority communities has worsened since the outbreak in Yau Tsim Mong district.

He describes how an employee at a bakery near his home refused to accept cash from him, telling him to leave his money on the counter. She did the same with other ethnic minority customers, as if they were all infected, but handled cash from Chinese customers.

“I feel sad and disappointed, but most of the time I just walk away. I have been facing discrimination all my life,” he says. “This whole experience of being infected has impacted my family in ways I hadn’t planned.”

‘How can I survive?’

The 2016 population by-census put Hong Kong’s ethnic minority population at more than 584,000, accounting for 8 per cent of the city’s total population of 7.3 million that year.

Since the outbreak in Yau Tsim Mong district, members of ethnic minority groups say they have been targeted and blamed for “spreading the virus”, especially after Raymond Ho Lei-ming, a senior official from the Centre for Health Protection, suggested that their behaviour, such as their habit of gathering in groups to socialise put them at risk.

Hong Kong anti-racism watchdog speaks out over food customers’ delivery notes

Although Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor reassured them that they were not being targeted, incidents of discrimination against members of ethnic minority surfaced.

There were reports of South Asian food deliverymen being rejected by customers, and workers of ethnic minority backgrounds being sent home by their employers.

Hong Kong’s anti-discrimination watchdog, the Equal Opportunities Commission, received 335 complaints under the Racial Discrimination Ordinance last year. It received 98 such complaints in 2019.

Nepali Chet Bahadur Gurung, 49, and his wife Karuna Pradhan, 43, live with their adult son and daughter in a tenement building on Shanghai Street in Jordan. The building was also under the city’s first two-day lockdown.

Gurung, who came to Hong Kong in 1995, says he did not know about the sudden operation until he set out for work at 6am that day and was stopped by police officers and medical personnel.

He says although he speaks English and some Cantonese, he receives most pandemic-related information from within his community, which is translated into Nepali, and is often delayed.

The lockdown cost him two days’ wages of HK$2,200 from the construction site job he found recently, after being unemployed for six months.

His wife runs a beauty and hair salon in their neighbourhood. She says business has been bad since the pandemic started last year, with the number of customers dropping from about 20 to about five a day.

From pork to packaging, locked down Hongkongers upset over food supplied

After the lockdown, even her regular customers stopped coming. To make ends meet, she sold her jewellery, mostly gold necklaces and bracelets.

She took up a job as a part-time cleaner on a construction site but was fired after the lockdown. She believes she was fired because she is a Nepali living in the area where the outbreak occurred.

“I need money for my rent and daily expenses. How can I survive?” she says.

The two-day lockdown left Mohammad, 38, an Indian security guard, confined to his home in Jordan with his 36-year-old wife.

South Asian residents, concern groups outraged over official’s Covid-19 remarks

Asking to be identified only by his given name, he says limited information about the sudden moves caused concern and panic among ethnic minority residents who did not know how long the lockdown would last.

Staying with his wife in their 200-sq ft subdivided flat in an old tenement building, he was worried, knowing there were confirmed Covid-19 cases in the building next door.

All he could do was look down from his window and monitor the situation.

“It was like a nightmare,” he says.

Time to stop blame game

Mufti Muhammad Arshad, the Pakistan-born chief imam of Hong Kong, says many members of ethnic minority communities have suffered job losses and pay cuts amid the pandemic.

He wants the government to bridge the gap between the Chinese and ethnic minority communities in job opportunities, especially in the public sector, to help them get through this difficult time.

“The ethnic minority community is also part of Hong Kong society, and they are following the government’s rules and regulations,” he says.

Rita Gurung, chief adviser to the Hong Kong Nepalese Federation, a charity helping the Nepalese community, says limited job opportunities because of the language barrier have forced many to settle for unstable, low-paying jobs as security guards or construction workers.

Hong Kong firefighters from ethnic minority groups bridge gap with residents

She says the government and businesses should open more job positions for those struggling financially.

Pointing out that many ethnic minority families can only afford to rent subdivided flats in old tenements with poor sanitation, she hopes the government can improve the building management to reduce the risk of infection.

Hong Kong-born Gurung, 48, who is a member of the government’s Committee on the Promotion of Racial Harmony, also hopes the blame game and discrimination can end.

“We are doing our best and working hard for society. The criticism is not fair,” she says.

Strangers in their own city: charity fights for Hong Kong’s ethnic minority members

Frank Ho Fu-wing, a Yau Tsim Mong district councillor, says since the outbreak and lockdown, awareness of the pandemic has improved among members of ethnic minority communities.

But many, especially the elderly and newcomers who do not speak Chinese or English, still have difficulty accessing information, he says, urging the authorities to provide information in all the major languages spoken by these residents.

To help those struggling to understand the situation, dozens of ethnic minority officers working for disciplinary services such as the Correctional Services Department and Fire Services Department were sent to liaise with residents during the lockdown in Jordan.

Nepali Sharswati Gurung, 38, was one of 40 ethnic minority volunteers who helped the Home Affairs Department inform ethnic minority residents of mandatory testing in Yau Tsim Mong district.

Covid-19 woes drive ethnic minority families to marry off teen girls

Clad in a protective suit, she visited every household required to do the test between January 15 and 24. She says most residents were cooperative once the situation was explained to them in their native languages.

Admitting that the risk of infection bothered her initially, she says: “I was scared at first, but we were doing something for our society.”

Despite all the difficulties, Rai says his Covid-19 experience has made him more health-conscious, and he is minding his diet and exercising to keep fit.

“The infection won’t get me stuck,” he says. “By making a few changes one step at a time, I will get back on my feet soon.”