MIRI – All foreign workers throughout Sarawak must be registered with the divisional resident office so that they qualify for Covid-19 vaccine injections.
The State Disaster Management Committee said this measure will be enforced with immediate effect.
“Employers with foreign workers must register them with the resident office in order for the vaccination to be done for these foreign workers.
“The compulsory registration will be from now until April 12,” the secretariat said in a press statement here today.
The Society for Rights of Indigenous People of Sarawak had last week called on the state government to immediately halt the intake of 27,000 foreign workers.
Its secretary-general Michael Jok had told The Vibes the state cabinet must rescind the March 1 decision to approve the entry of the much-needed labour into logging camps, oil-palm plantations and construction sites.
The Sarawak Labour Department had in February released a report that many of those who employed foreign workers have not sent their workers for mandatory screening.
The department found that at least 10,000 migrant workers in four southern Sarawak districts had not been sent for testing by their respective employers.
The department in February carried out checks on 1,175 employers in Kuching, Samarahan, Lundu and Sematan and found that they employ 12,208 foreign workers, of which 10,995 have not been screened for Covid-19 yet.
Jok said urgent priority should be given to check foreign workers in very remote localities such as Belaga, Kapit, Baram, Bario, Bakelalan and others. – The Vibes, March 27, 2021
