Hong Kong coronavirus: 5 new cases confirmed; flight ban could send pay skyward for locally hired domestic workers, agency bosses say

Of 16 Covid-19 cases imported from the Philippines in the past seven days, all carried the new N501Y mutation, which can now trigger a shutdown of all flights from a country

There is only one local case among Wednesday’s confirmed Covid-19 infections, but two imported cases from Pakistan involved the new variant

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Foreign domestic workers could be in short supply if new coronavirus regulations see flights from the Philippines banned. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 11:00am, 14 Apr 2021Updated: 10:47pm, 14 Apr 2021

Salaries for locally hired foreign domestic helpers could be pushed up as much as 30 per cent amid keen demand if a new flight ban mechanism aimed at keeping an emerging coronavirus variant out of Hong Kong makes it harder for workers to reach the city, employment agency bosses have warned.

The new regulations came into effect on Wednesday, two days after health minister Professor Sophia Chan Siu-chee revealed that all airlines would be banned from operating routes from a given country to Hong Kong for two weeks should any of them bring in the N501Y coronavirus mutation over a seven-day period.

The government later clarified the ban would be triggered by the discovery of at least five passengers with the mutation.

Hong Kong on Wednesday confirmed five new coronavirus cases. The sole local infection involved a 70-year-old man who tested positive after his death. He lived at Oi Fai House in Tuen Mun, and was linked to earlier cases.

Two of the imported cases on Wednesday – arrivals from Pakistan – carried the N501Y variant. The city’s infection tally stood at 11,612, with 209 deaths.

Flights from the Philippines, where many of the city’s domestic workers come from, are among those that face the greatest risk of a temporary ban, according to data reviewed by the Post.