Hong Kong’s government recently banned all “nonessential” people from attending live births at public hospitals across the city — including the baby’s father — citing a recent surge in local Chinese coronavirus infections, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on Sunday.
“Faced with a surge in Covid-19 [Chinese coronavirus] infections, the city’s public hospitals have reinstated a ban on partners being present for the birth of their babies,” the Hong Kong-based newspaper revealed.
The Hong Kong Hospital Authority reimposed the ban on February 16 after previously enforcing the measure in January 2020 before lifting it in January 2021. The administrative body said it will revisit the prohibition once Hong Kong’s coronavirus situation improves but for now the restriction applies to all public hospitals in the city.
Hongkongers may sidestep the city’s delivery room attendance cap by choosing to give birth at a private hospital, though this is often prohibitively expensive for many residents.
“In Hong Kong, the cost of giving birth in a heavily subsidised public hospital is HK$500 (US$64.50) compared to around HK$100,000 (US$12,902) in a private hospital,” the Hong Kong Free Press observed in December 2020.
When lifting Hong Kong’s ban on fathers in the delivery room in January 2021, the city’s Hospital Authority said it would still require people accompanying pregnant women to present a negative Chinese coronavirus test result “every three days until their wives or partners deliver.”
Expectant mother Jamie Chui, 33, rests her hands upon her baby bump as she speaks with AFP in Hong Kong. Jamie Chui has been a virtual prisoner in her Hong Kong home for most of her nine-month pregnancy and now faces giving birth alone, with her husband unlikely to see his child until days later. (ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP via Getty Images)
“Other measures for husbands or partners include wearing masks, having a normal body temperature and not living in buildings under the compulsory testing notice,” the Hong Kong government stipulated at the time.
The stringent coronavirus testing requirement is no longer sufficient to allow a father to attend the birth of his child in person, according to Hong Kong’s updated public hospital protocol.
“Jones, 34, a British citizen who has lived in Hong Kong for four years, was disappointed because he and his wife had taken all precautions – both had received two jabs of a Covid-19 [Chinese coronavirus] vaccine and had tested negative for a PCR test before going to Queen Elizabeth Hospital,” the SCMP reported on February 20.
Despite observing every anti-virus measure available to him, Jones was denied entry to the public hospital earlier this month. His wife was forced to give birth to their baby alone.
Allowing pregnant women “a companion of choice” in the birthing room is a basic human right, according to the World Health Organization (W.H.O.).
“All women have the right to a safe and positive childbirth experience, whether or not they have a confirmed COVID-19 infection,” the W.H.O. affirms.
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