Get 40% Off
🤯 This Tech Portfolio is up 29% YTD! Join Now to Get April’s Top PicksGet The Picks – Just 99 USD

Some Hong Kong civil servants, bankers to work from home as COVID spreads

Published 01/23/2022, 11:36 PM
Updated 01/24/2022, 04:47 AM
© Reuters. A health worker wearing a protective suit stands as residents queue for taking nucleic acid test for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at a makeshift testing site, after the government announced that several residential buildings to be locked down at Kwa

© Reuters. A health worker wearing a protective suit stands as residents queue for taking nucleic acid test for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at a makeshift testing site, after the government announced that several residential buildings to be locked down at Kwa

By Twinnie Siu and Farah Master

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong has told some civil servants to work from home from Tuesday, and some banks have given similar instructions to staff following a spate of COVID-19 infections in the Asian financial hub a week before the busy Lunar New Year holiday.

Health authorities said there were 109 new cases on Monday, out of which 98 were locally transmitted and five were untraceable. Daily cases hit an 18-month high of 140 on Sunday, fuelled by an outbreak in a congested public housing estate.

Responding to the latest covid scare, the government said in a statement on Monday that some employees would "work from home as much as possible" and warned that individual departments might have to cut back temporarily on some public services.

With the Lunar New Year holiday looming, Hong Kong has locked down thousands of people in the Kwai Chung estate for five days. About 35,000 face some curbs and must have daily tests, leader Carrie Lam said over the weekend after a visit.

The situation is testing Hong Kong's "zero-COVID" strategy to eliminate the disease, with schools and gyms already shut, restaurants closing at 6 p.m. and many major air links severed or disrupted. There was only a "slim chance" that city-wide restrictions could be lifted on Feb. 4 as had been planned, Lam has said.

Last week authorities stirred outrage with an order to cull more than 2,000 hamsters in dozens of pet shops, after tracing an outbreak to a worker in a shop where 11 hamsters tested positive.

EMERGENCY MEASURES

Some companies have begun to enact contingency measures as the transmissions ripple across the city into hospitals, schools and government offices.

Standard Chartered said in a statement on Monday that it encouraged all Hong Kong colleagues to work from home, when possible, with staff in critical functions to split teams. Its branch in the covid-hit Kwai Chung area was temporarily closed.

© Reuters. A health worker wearing a protective suit stands as residents queue for taking nucleic acid test for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at a makeshift testing site, after the government announced that several residential buildings to be locked down at Kwai Chung residential area following a new COVID-19 outbreak, in Hong Kong, China, January 22, 2022. REUTERS/Lam Yik

The move follows UBS Group AG (SIX:UBSG)'s decision to shift to work-from-home operations for all except a minimum number of staff who have essential tasks to be completed in the office, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters.Just over 70% of Hong Kong's 7.5 million population have been double vaccinated, a far smaller percentage than in similar cities like Singapore, which has 90% vaccinated.

And with the majority of elderly remaining unvaccinated, authorities in Hong Kong are especially cautious of spiraling Omicron transmissions.

Latest comments

Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.