More quarantine rooms on offer at Penny’s Bay

The government announced on Tuesday that it will reopen its booking system for helpers’ quarantine at its Penny’s Bay centre, after suspending it for two weeks to review its procedures.

The center will provide an additional 200 units to the workers starting October 22, taking the total number of quarantine units designated for foreign domestic workers to 1,000.

Agencies and employers will be able to make reservations from next Monday for fully-vaccinated helpers to fulfill a 21-day mandatory quarantine.

Only rooms available from the 22nd to 28th next month will be displayed when the reservation system reopens.

Instead of the previous arrangement of opening new slots every day, availability at the facility will be updated every Monday.

Labour Secretary Law Chi-kwong said the new arrangement is more user friendly.

“We believe the process will be smoother, and the applicants don’t have to check [for availability] everyday,” he explained.

Meanwhile, the government also announced that it will allow employers to extend the contracts of their helpers that are due to expire on or before the end of this year for up to six months, provided that both sides agree to do so.