Coronavirus: Hong Kong’s entry ban relaxation leaves helpers with unrecognised vaccine records on outside looking in

Jabs records only recognised if received in city, mainland China or countries identified by the WHO – a category that does not include the Philippines or Indonesia

Some students stranded in Britain, meanwhile, bemoan plan’s timing, saying it arrived too late for them to make a trip home before classes resume

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Relaxed rules could open the door for a return to Hong Kong by some in countries labelled extremely high risk – but not all. Photo: Nora Tam

Kathleen Magramo,Sammy HeungandNgai Yeung

Published: 10:08am, 15 Jul 2021Updated: 11:09pm, 15 Jul 2021

Hong Kong’s plan to lift entry bans for fully vaccinated residents and work visa holders from extremely high-risk areas will do little to help thousands of domestic helpers whose home countries’ inoculation records are unrecognised, employment agencies have said.

The plan, to be announced and implemented next week, will also allow unvaccinated Hong Kong minors studying in Britain, one of eight countries deemed extremely high-risk for Covid-19 by the local government, to return home for the summer holiday.

But a source familiar with the matter said only those with vaccination records from Hong Kong, mainland China or countries recognised by the World Health Organization (WHO) as having stringent regulatory authorities would be allowed to enter the city.

Among the eight countries, only Britain is on the WHO list. Brazil, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines and South Africa are the seven other countries deemed extremely high risk.

The city banned direct flights from the Philippines on April 20, while planes from Indonesia were suspended from June 25 – the dates on which each were labelled extremely high risk. The two countries supply most of the 370,000 helpers in the city.

Since Hong Kong’s vaccination drive was expanded to include domestic workers on March 16, about 41 per cent, or 150,0000 of the helpers living in the city, had been fully vaccinated as of Wednesday – significantly higher than the rate for the general population.

Thomas Chan Tung-fung, chairman of the Hong Kong Union of Employment Agencies, predicted that even if the government allowed vaccinated domestic helpers to return to the city this month, fewer than 10 per cent of the estimated 5,000 stranded in the two countries would be able to do so in the first week. Many of the 5,000 were new hires, he added.