Live-in domestic workers in Hong Kong have been left homeless after they were diagnosed with COVID-19 and their employers fired them or refused their return to the residence, support groups have said.
Many of the workers, who are mostly women from Indonesia and the Philippines, were also left without insurance to cover their medical bills.
Hong Kong is in the midst of its worst-ever outbreak of COVID-19, with the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 infecting thousands of people a day, overwhelming hospitals and government isolation facilities.
The problem is exacerbated by strict policies of mandatory isolation for patients and close contacts, with tens of
in factjob losses among domestic workers ranged from five to 20% in most european countries. and in the americas, the situation was even worse, with losses amounting to 25 to 50% of workers. to put that in perspective, over the same period, job losses among other employees were less than 15% in most countries. one organisation that assists them in hong kong is help for domestic workers and they have seen demand for their services dramatically increase. manisha wijesinghe is their executive director. she told us more about how these workers had been coping. definitely last year was quite an interesting year for us at help for domestic workers. we saw a doubling of our monthly average of cases. we usually have around 60 cases a month and last year it went up to about 120 and those cases we have seen are very much similar to the issues highlighted. we have seen an increase of the number of domestic
dealing with a cease fire. we ll keep you updated on what s going in gaza. domestic workers are among those worst hit by the consequences of the coronavirus. that s the verdict of a recent report, which found they were more likely than most workers to loose theirjob or face a drop in wages. data in the report found that the world s 75 million domestic workers have suffered significantly due to the pandemic. in fact, job losses among domestic workers ranged from 5 20% in most european countries. and in the americas, the situation was even worse, with losses amounting to 25 50% of workers. to put that in perspective, over the same period, job losses among other employees were less than 15% in most countries. one organisation that assists them in hong kong is help for domestic workers, and they have seen demand for their services dramatically increase. let s talk to manisha wijesinghe, executive director. thank you forjoining us. one defendant about how domestic workers are coping in the