‘New carers ready to tend to Covid patients soon’

Labour and welfare chief Law Chi-kwong said on Monday that he’s “quite confident” that the hiring and training process for local and mainland temporary carers will be completed in the next week or two, so the recruits can start looking after elderly Covid-19 patients at isolation and treatment facilities.

He was speaking ahead of the arrival of 240 other mainlanders who will work in Hong Kong from this week on three-month contracts.

The minister made the remark at Harbour Road Sports Centre in Wan Chai, a new holding centre that will begin admitting elderly patients with mild symptoms on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters, Law said some 120 mainland workers are already in Hong Kong as part of the government’s emergency recruitment to resolve a shortage of manpower amid the Omicron outbreak.

He said authorities are trying to recruit more workers from the mainland and locally in the coming one or two weeks, and that they are expecting to hire a total of 1,000 to 1,200 carers.

The secretary said this will allow six other new holding centres for elderly Covid patients to become operational later in the month.

Asked if authorities could increase the pay to attract more mainland carers, Law said he believed they are not coming for the money, but out of kindness.

Separately, the minister noted that some 400 to 500 employees from more than 100 care homes are going to take part in the government’s closed-loop system under which staff will live away from their families.

He added that the short-term arrangement will be effective in reducing the risk of outbreaks at care homes.