Elderly Care Assistants Reduced Amid Outbreak

The chairman of the Elderly Services Association, Kenneth Chan, said that many care homes have hired fewer outside assistants to accompany elderly people from care homes to hospitals to reduce the risk of cross-infection.

Chan's comments come after health authorities confirmed on Tuesday that one of the recently-confirmed Covid-19 cases was a female caretaker who accompanied at least six elderly people from a number of care homes to visit hospitals.

He said that demand for these caretakers is high as care homes are often short on manpower, and these caretakers often work for companies that provide services to care homes and hospitals such as making sure elderly patients get to hospitals for appointments.

He told an RTHK radio programme that it's common for these caretakers to serve multiple care homes, and some care homes have reduced the number of caretakers hired externally, by allowing their own staff to accompany elderly residents to hospitals.

He said hospitals also require those accompanying the elderly to wear protective clothing.

Meanwhile, an infectious disease specialist has added to calls on the government to further tighten its social-distancing measures to avoid a lockdown of the city.

Dr Joseph Tsang said Hong Kong is better off suffering the short-term pain caused by tougher measures, rather than enduring the long-term pain if no further action is taken.

The measures that Tsang suggested include a total ban on dining-in at restaurants, as well as increasing the number of people allowed to work from home such as civil servants.

He said that as the government is the largest employer in Hong Kong, it needs to take the lead in increasing the number of civil servants that can work from home so that private organisations would follow suit.

Tsang said that if the pandemic continues to get worse, then the city's isolation wards and quarantine centres will become full. The next step would be for the government to consider a lockdown, but that it must give the public time to prepare.