DDHK.ORG - Pemerintah Hong Kong cut the quarantine period for people coming from abroad. From the previous 21 days, to 14 days. This policy is effective from February 5, 2022.
At a press conference near the end of last month, Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Lam emphasized that the government's decision was purely based on scientific studies. “Omicron's incubation period is relatively short. So we, based on this knowledge, have shortened the quarantine period for close contacts of confirmed cases… from 21 days to 14 days,” he said, as reported by RTHK.
The Minister of Manpower and Welfare, Law Chi-kwong, said that the policy of cutting the quarantine period had a positive impact on the supply of foreign domestic workers who had been experiencing a fairly severe shortage. Because, there will be more foreign domestic workers who can come to Hong Kong.
Reported by RTHK, on Sunday, late last month, Law said Hong Kong in December had increased quarantine facilities for domestic workers. But then the Omicron variant of the Covid-19 spread violently throughout the world, where there was a sharp increase in cases in the Philippines, the home country of the largest migrant worker in Hong Kong.
Responding to this condition, the Hong Kong government also banned all flights from the Philippines and 7 other countries. The flight ban will continue until at least February 18, 2022.
Law also said the pandemic situation in Indonesia was also deteriorating. However, domestic workers from Indonesia can still fly to Hong Kong.
With an additional 491 hotel rooms dedicated to incoming foreign domestic workers, and a shorter quarantine period starting February 5, the number of foreign domestic workers able to enter Hong Kong at any given time period will increase by 50 percent.
“You can imagine tens of thousands of families in Hong Kong struggling to take care of their family members without the support of foreign domestic workers. But in order not to burden the public health system, we must be careful in preventing imported cases," he said. [DDHK News]
