KAKAMMPI News

Chief Executive Carrie Lam called for calm Monday, as hordes of people rushed to supermarkets across the city amid reports the government is planning to impose a citywide lockdown to control the surge in Covid-19 infections. The fears were further stoked by a record 34,466 coronavirus cases being recorded in Hong Kong for the day, along with 124 deaths. Speaking at the Shenzhen Bay Port where she welcomed a top Covid strategy expert from the Mainland, Mrs Lam said the government is still assessing whether people should be stopped from leaving their homes during the planned universal testing of residents in March. She had said earlier that all of Hong Kong’s 7.4 million residents will be made to undergo three tests, spaced out over several days. Earlier in the day, Health Secretary Sophia Chan told reporters that a mass lockdown has not been ruled out to ensure the effectiveness of the mass testing. Chan said that the flow of people might have to be reduced and that people “should...

As Hong Kong grapples with the latest outbreak in the pandemic driven by the highly transmissible omicron variant and begins the citywide testing of everyone in the territory We call for the following to avert harm to migrant workers during this challenging situation: Equality of treatment with respect to medical confidentiality, access to healthcare and application of COVID-19 restrictions for people working in Hong Kong from abroad. Epidemiological surveillance should not lead to migrant workers being singled out for excessive scrutiny contributing to their stigmatisation. This far into the pandemic is it evident that any discriminatory denial of treatment for migrant workers who test positive is not only inhumane, but also undermines the collective safety required for a competent pandemic response. Comprehensive Public Health messaging to: Ensure migrant workers receive updates on information given to the wider public in a timely manner in accessible languages. ...

UN Secretary General António Guterres has described the decision by the Russian Presidency to give recognition to two separatist regions as inconsistent with the UN Charter and a violation of territorial integrity. He has called for peaceful settlement of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, in accordance with the Minsk Agreements, as endorsed by the UN Security Council in resolution 2202 adopted in 2015. The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe has also issued a condemnation. ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow said: “Many lives have been lost and people have been suffering for seven years, due to the failure to implement the Minsk Agreements. “Hundreds more ceasefire violations have taken place in recent weeks as the dispute has been artificially fueled. Instead of building bridges for peace, huge amounts have been spent on armaments and the military, and aggressive rhetoric has caused further instability. “The ongoing conflict has had dramatic consequences fo...

Workers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia mark May Day in 2019 with a rally for labor rights. One sign reads “Migrant workers rights.” © 2019 AP Photo/Annice Lyn Migrant workers from Nepal and Bangladesh are suinga widely recognized British brand, household appliance manufacturer, Dyson, over complaints of forced labor and other dangerous working conditions at one of its supplier factories in Malaysia. The plaintiffs are former employees of Malaysia-based ATA Industrial, a long-term, major Dyson supplier. Andy Hall, a migrant workers’ rights specialist, first brought the workers’ complaints to Dyson’s attention in 2019. A Dyson representative said on a Channel 4 program that the company conducted six audits of ATA between November 2019 and June 2021. The final in-depth audit conducted by ELEVATE reportedly identified major forced labor risks. To date, none of these audit reports have been made public. The company representative said that they were proactively working to drive improvements in...

The Philippine government has sent a consular team to Ukraine to supervise requests for relocation or repatriation of dozens of Filipinos who wish to leave the country, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Monday as the United States warned that Russian invasion may still be possible. Now in Ukraine's Western city of Lviv, the two-man team from the Philippine embassy in Warsaw, Poland would ensure faster coordination with the Filipino community and relevant authorities in the country, the DFA said. Approximately 380 Filipinos are living in Ukraine, most of whom are in Kyiv and located far from the eastern border near Russia. "Two personnel from the embassy, composed of a Consul and an ATN Officer, in coordination with the Philippine Honorary Consulate General in Kyiv, arrived in Lviv last Thursday. The embassy team immediately established an emergency contact base," the DFA said. Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier announced scaling down some of its troops fro...

Some employers in Hong Kong are terminating the contracts of overseas Filipino workers who tested positive for COVID-19, according to a report by GMA News stringer Azon Cañete on Unang Balita on Monday. OFWs whose contracts were terminated thus have no place to go. In an interview on Dobol B TV, Migrante-Hong Kong chairperson Dolores Balladares said hospitals are not accommodating OFWs because their contracts are already terminated. “Ang problema talaga is ‘yung matutuluyan ng mga nate-terminate kasi wala namang designated accommodation 'yung Hong Kong government ngayon para sa terminated workers tsaka 'yung nagpa-positive,” she said. (The problem really is accommodation for terminated OFWs because the Hong Kong government has no designated accommodation now for terminated and infected OFWs.) According to Balladares, it is still a question if the employers will rehire the OFWs once they recover. Balladares said 30 to 40 OFWs have asked assistance from Migrante. According ...

Overseas Filipino workers in Hong Kong who tested positive for COVID-19 are among those who had to wait outside hospitals before they could be admitted due to full capacity, according to a report on News Live on Saturday. Due to the fifth wave of COVID-19 cases in Hong Kong due to the Omicron variant, hospitals were full and could not admit patients right away. According to authorities, Hong Kong hospitals are already 90% full. One OFW who tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday just as she was about to leave for a trip back to the Philippines was not allowed to board the plane, along with two other OFWs. They waited overnight outside a hospital in Hong Kong until they were assisted by a nongovernment organization and personnel from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration. The three are already in an isolation facility. The Department of Labor and Employment meanwhile is confirming with the Philippine Overseas Labor Office the reports of some NGOs that a few COVID-19 positive...