By Vir B. Lumicao
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| Law says the biggest number of imported cases are from the Philippines |
In the past two months the number of foreign domestic helpers
allowed into Hong Kong has risen nearly four-fold, Secretary for Labour and
Welfare Law Chi-kwong wrote in his blog published today, Nov. 14.
Law said that in the first half of September, an average of number of 28.3 FDHs managed to come to Hong Kong. In the second half of October, this rose to 63.7 and by early this month, it has risen further to 107.2.
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He attributed the increase to the government’s decision to add designated quarantine facilities and raise occupancy quotas for FDH, as the infection rate among the arriving helpers eased.
However, he said the infection rate among FDHs remains high compared with the overall diagnosis rate of 0.55% for people vaccinated in Hong Kong who arrived from other places.
He said the biggest source of imported cases in Hong Kong is the Philippines, with Indonesia in fourth place.
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Law noted that the Covid-19 situation in the two countries have been improving with the number of arriving infected FDHs from those countries progressively declining since September.
He said the obvious drop occurred among Filipino FDHs, as the number of arriving Indonesians who test positive is relatively low.
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“We will continue to observe the epidemic situation in the two places, the progress of the vaccination rate, and the change in the diagnosis rate after arriving in Hong Kong, so as to adjust the progress of importing FDHs from the Philippines and Indonesia,” Law said.
The labor secretary noted that the pandemic has continued to ease in the Philippines and Indonesia with the seven-day moving average number of confirmed Filipino cases dropping from the peak of 20,915 per day on Sept 12 to 4,336 on Oct 31.
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As of Nov10, the seven-day moving average has dropped to 2,200 per day, he said.
In contrast, the seven-day moving average number of confirmed cases in Indonesia has fallen from the peak of 50,039 per day on Jul 18 to just 450 on Nov10.
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At the end of September, 32.9% of the population in
“Judging from the overall vaccination rate and the progress
in October, the progress of vaccination in
He also said Hong Kong has added Courtyard Hotel by Marriott in Sha Tin starting Dec 8 as a designated quarantine site for FDHs, providing a total of 500 rooms and replacing Silka Hotel Tsuen Wan, which will be designated for other purposes.
FDH arrivals in HK and Covid-19 diagnosis rate, Sept 1-Nov 10
|
|
Number of
FDHs |
Confirmation
rate after arrival* |
|||
|
Arrival date |
Total arrivals |
Avg daily |
All FDHs |
Filipino |
Indonesian |
|
Sept 1-15 |
424 |
28.3 |
3.30% |
4.98% |
0% |
|
Sept 16-30 |
749 |
49.9 |
2.40% |
3.62% |
0.41% |
|
Oct 1-15 |
772 |
51.5 |
2.07% |
2.23% |
1.93% |
|
Oct 16-31# |
1,019 |
63.7 |
1.37% |
1.85% |
0.74% |
|
Nov 1-10 |
1,072 |
107.2 |
(Not accurate) |
||
Source: SLW blog
* - Does not include a complex positive
cases
# - As some FDHs who arrived end-October still in
quarantine, diagnosis rate may increase slightly
