Clamour For Aid Rises Again As Curbs Continue

Representatives of different sectors are urging the government to provide more financial aid as the lockdown due to coronavirus outbreaks continued to choke the economic activities in the city.

A group of education centre operators said an estimated 90 percent of some 5,000 centres still remaining in business will fold if the government did not provide assistance.

The Education Centres Union demanded at least HK$300,000 in subsidy for each of them to survive through the pandemic.

The union said the money could just cover rent for the centres for half a year.

A spokesman for the group, Trevor So, said the government should also allow them to resume face-to-face classes, because online classes haven’t been effective.

A kindergarten headmistress, Kwan Shuk-ling, who took part in an RTHK programme, also said many of the schools had used up almost all the subsidies provided by the government, and they need help on online teaching too.

Meanwhile, representatives of the beauty industry said they are also in dire straits and complained that several thousand parlours still hadn't received any of the subsidy promised.

The founding chairman of the Federation of Beauty Industry, Nelson Ip, told the programme that the weeks-long closure make it very difficult for them to survive.

The government has rolled out two rounds of relief measures to help struggling businesses, including handing out hundreds of thousands of dollars under its HK$137.5 billion anti-epidemic relief measures to help local establishments during the economic downturn.

But demands have been rising for a third round of subsidies as Hong Kong struggles to contain a third wave of coronavirus outbreak, which saw the strictest restrictions yet being unveiled last month.