(To watch the full media session with sign language interpretation, click here.)

Hong Kong has discussed with the Philippines and Indonesia the special arrangement for fully vaccinated foreign domestic helpers to come to Hong Kong for work, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said today.

Ahead of today's Executive Council meeting, Mrs Lam noted that helpers from the two countries who have their vaccination records recognised in Hong Kong will be subject to a 21-day quarantine upon arrival according to the relevant requirements currently applicable to high-risk Group A specified places.

She also appealed to foreign domestic helper employers for their patience as the arrival of helpers needs to be handled in an orderly manner.

"It is this balance that we are always trying to strike; on the one hand to meet the essential needs of the Hong Kong residents, but on the other hand to keep COVID-19 virus at bay, that is to reduce as much as possible the chance of importing COVID-19 cases from abroad.

"So the number of foreign domestic helpers who can come back to Hong Kong through this special arrangement has to be rationed and has to be controlled.

"We cannot allow thousands of foreign domestic helpers to come in every week. Otherwise, the chance of having more confirmed cases either discovered at the airport or during the quarantine period will overload Hong Kong's public hospital system."

The Government has identified a hotel to provide about 400 rooms for foreign domestic helpers to undergo quarantine and will try to secure another one.

"The arrangement is to require them to do their 21-day mandatory quarantine in a designated hotel.

"We already have designated quarantine hotels. There are quite a number of them that arrival passengers can freely book. But for the foreign domestic helpers, we will put them in or require them to book a special designated hotel."

Further details of the arrangement will be announced within this week, the Chief Executive added.