KUALA LUMPUR – Viral videos and photos purportedly showing crowded conditions inside the low-risk quarantine centre at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang (MAEPS) have raised concern and consternation among the public.
One unsettling video shows a long queue of people with luggage lined up close to each other, apparently to begin their quarantine at the centre, while staff in full protective suits perform their duties.
It also shows a sea of beds placed near each other as people wearing masks mill about with little or no social distancing practised between them.
According to a Facebook user who uploaded the videos, the patients who are brought there are those classified as level 1 (asymptomatic) and level 2 (light symptoms).
Another video taken in the women’s section was accompanied by a patient saying that the air-conditioning was too cold and lights were on in the hall throughout the night.
The Vibes had earlier highlighted similar complaints by Malaysian patients at the Balik Pulau low-risk Covid-19 treatment centre in Penang who were unhappy with its dirty conditions.
Videos recorded by several local patients in the facility showed that it only had two bathrooms and one shower to accommodate 200 people.
A four-minute-long video also showed patients saying that beds are only placed 50cm apart, with no instructions given on what to do after checking into the facility. Water dispensers were also said to be insufficient, with some being out of order.
However, Sinar Harian reported today that the low-risk centre at MAEPS is not full and congested as has been perceived.
It quoted a patient there as saying that there are many beds that are still empty.
“If we look at the quarantine area for (Malaysian) citizens, only half of the beds are filled with patients. The other half of the beds are still vacant,” the patient was quoted as saying today. – The Vibes, January 8, 2020
