Coronavirus: the frontline workers left to keep Hong Kong safe without adequate protection against deadly infection
- Shortage of face masks leaves security guards, cleaners, and public transport workers at risk of catching disease
- Survey shows city’s cleaning services sector only has enough masks to last for about two weeks
Security guard Maggie Cheng disinfects the entrance of the residential building where she works during her 12-hour shift.
The 62-year-old said her company only required her to sanitise the doormat for people to step on before entering, but she went further and cleaned the entire area to protect residents against the deadly coronavirus.
Cheng, a security guard for more than 10 years, said the outbreak had increased her workload, and made her more aware of hygiene. As her company had run out of masks amid a citywide shortage, she used her own.
She said the virus did not scare her, as long as she maintained good hygiene at her workplace.
“There is no point in worrying. This is what I do to make a living. I can’t stay at home just because I’m scared,” she said.
The city’s more than 325,000 security guards, along with cleaners, and public transport employees, have been working on the front line amid the spread of the highly infectious disease. The nature of their work makes them highly vulnerable, especially as many of them are elderly.
