Philip Yeung

Opinion | Hong Kong’s paltry coronavirus relief is cold comfort to the jobless and needy

If officials think that with a HK$10,000 cash handout, they have done their duty, they are sadly mistaken. When bad times hit, the poor are hit the hardest, and many are now in dire straits, with no social safety net to keep them afloat

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Hong Kong’s McRefugees have nowhere to go, as fast-food outlets close early to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Photo: Nora Tam

Philip Yeung

Published: 7:00am, 8 Apr 2020Updated: 7:02am, 8 Apr 2020

If you are down and out, you had best hightail it out of Hong Kong. This city of Rolls-Royce and Gucci bags is the only modern metropolis without a social safety net.

Government officials must wrestle with two urgent concerns: “flatten the curve” of infections, and cushion the economic impact of the coronavirus. They are faltering on both counts.

The government did buy itself a modicum of goodwill by announcing a HK$10,000 (US$1,300) cash handout for each adult permanent resident. But it will be months before the desperate see the money. If the government thinks that, with the announced handout, it has done its duty, it is sadly mistaken.

Buried in the avalanche of pandemic news, for instance, is a tragic story of a middle-age couple who killed themselves when their income dried up: the man was a jewellery salesman and his wife a cosmetics saleswoman, both businesses hit hard, first by the violent street protests and now the pandemic. How many more are in the depths of despair?

I don’t understand how we can have a modern economy without unemployment benefits. These are basic taxpayer rights. But here, if you are out of work, you are basically on your own.