Covid-19: No more wage subsidies for businesses, Hong Kong’s No 2 says, even as unemployment woes rise and city confirms 13 new infections

HONG KONG, Sept 20 (SCMP): Hong Kong’s No 2 official has warned there will be no further wage subsidies for businesses hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic even as unemployment woes deepen and the city confirming 13 more infections on Saturday evening (Sept 19).

Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung Kin-chung said two tranches of wage subsidies under the Employment Support Scheme (ESS) had already stretched government spending but managed to keep the joblessness rate at 6.1 per cent.