Gov’t: Foreign domestic helper entrants pose potential risks to household members

Allowing foreign domestic helpers to enter the city may pose risks to their employees, especially to children and the elderly, public health doctor Leong Iek Hou said at the regular health press briefing yesterday.

Leong is also the division head for prevention and control of infectious diseases at the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

At the occasion, Leong was questioned about the threshold for vaccination rate that will facilitate foreign domestic helpers being permitted to enter Macau, as the middle class are struggling to obtain helpers to handle their household work.

In the past two years, many foreign workers have decided to leave Macau – not because their employers were not willing to renew their contracts, but because they would not be allowed back in if they departed from Macau to visit their family.

Restrictions are still in place on non-Greater China residents entering Macau.

In response to the question raised at the briefing, Leong merely reinforced the position of her superintendent, bureau director and pulmonologist Alvis Lo, who said that the countries of origin of foreign domestic workers, such as Vietnam and the Philippines, are still seeing high number of new cases each day.

Furthermore, these workers mainly take care of children and the elderly when they work. Lo added that vaccination rates among children and elderly are still low, meaning higher risks for these people.

As Leong did not give a clear response to the question, she was asked once again about the vaccination rate threshold. Currently, the overall vaccination rate in the city is 85%.

In response to the question, the public health doctor admitted that there is no worldwide standard to the vaccination rate considered sufficient. She merely reiterated that the higher the vaccination rate, the more people were protected.

“By referring a vaccination rate as high we mean 90%,” she added. “But we have no clear cut as to what the optimal vaccination rate is.”

From the development of the vaccine to Macau reaching an 85% general vaccination rate, the government has elevated the acceptable vaccination rate several times, from about 70% to 90%.

Furthermore, at a previous press conference, Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng mentioned that unless Macau reached a vaccination rate of 80%, the government would feel groundless in requesting Beijing to reopen group tours to Macau.

Later at the briefing, the health official was also asked why the same entry practice is not levied on foreign people who want to enter Macau to work as domestic helpers.

People allowed to enter Macau from outside mainland China are required to undergo 14 days of centralized quarantine at designated hotels. If they are released after the two weeks, they will need to conduct seven days of health self-monitoring, during which time they will not be legally allowed to enter mainland China.

On this subject, she referred to the overall capacity of the city against a potential outbreak. She said the government will need to make overall assessments before coming to any conclusions.