Anti-epidemic Fund To Cover More Industries

Thousands of workers in the local construction industry, dish-washing companies, car repair shops and job referral agencies will now be covered under the government's plan to help businesses stay afloat and workers receive their salaries in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced this expansion of the Employment Support Scheme on Tuesday, saying that she understands some businesses have been left out in the previous rounds of the anti-epidemic fund.

This includes some 40,000 casual workers in the construction industry who have been employed continuously by the same employer, but weren't eliglible to apply for the scheme under the original rules.

The CE said the government is also hoping to aid people in sectors like laundry shops and car repair firms, after realising that their businesses couldn't benefit from the previous plans.

Subsidy plans will be amended to help those sectors, said Lam, adding that some HK$10 billion from the anti-epidemic fund hasn't been used yet. Her cabinet will also strive to see what other sectors need to be included, said the CE.

The government has so far finished dealing with 25,500 applications for the Employment Support Scheme and businesses will be able to get the government's subsidy starting from Friday.

This batch of subsidy involves some HK$4.8 billion of public money, with close to 98 percent of it going to small and medium sized enterprises, Lam said.

At the media briefing, the CE also said she and all her politically appointed officials will freeze their pay for a year, without claiming a potential two percent pay rise as suggested in an annual salary review.

She stressed that she and the senior officials had decided to cut their salaries in April and their salary levels will stay the same in the coming year.