Filipina domestic worker terminated while on home quarantine

Screenshot of Tseung Kwan O at Google Maps

A Filipina domestic worker has been terminated while she was trying to complete the 14-day compulsory quarantine set by the Hong Kong government to curb the transmission of COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus.

Hong Kong News confirmed from authorities that the Filipina, Melissa (not her real name) was terminated at the last week of March while under home quarantine. She came from Bangladesh, as her employers brought her there along with them as it was supposedly safer for them to be in Dhaka amid the rising cases of COVID-19 infection in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong now has 935 confirmed cases of people who tested positive for COVID-19, at least 23 of whom are Filipinos, seven have been discharged. All over the world, cases have surpassed 1 million.

She ran the risk of violating her home quarantine though after her employer terminated her on the spot. She was made to leave the employer’s residence at Tseung Kwan O. She stayed somewhere else but the police have to eventually come in and send her to a quarantine facility in Fotan.

In cases like this, foreign domestic workers who have been terminated while under home quarantine are advised to call the police at 999 so they will not be accused of violating their home quarantine.

The maximum penalty upon conviction is imprisonment for six months and a fine of $25,000.

Hong Kong has imposed a 14-day home quarantine for incoming travellers following the rise of imported COVID-19 cases in Hong Kong.