KUALA LUMPUR – Police have issued an immediate compound against a lorry driver who ferried a group of foreign workers, all of whom are Covid-19-positive, in Sg Petani, Kedah, after photos of the incident spread on social media today.
Kuala Muda police chief Adzli Abu Shah said the authorities acted immediately after being informed of the incident at 5pm today, and tracked down the lorry, which was found at Sg Lalang in Bedong, near here.
“The vehicle was returning from the Kuala Muda District Health Office (PKD) to a workers’ hostel at a chicken processing factory in Sg Lalang.
“Checks found 48 infected individuals were on the lorry; all wearing quarantine wristbands,” he said in a statement tonight, as quoted by Bernama.
However, Adzli did not reveal the amount of the fine issued against the driver.
A video along with several photos of the crammed lorry spread like wildfire on social media today.
Sg Petani Umno division chief Datuk Shahanim Mohamad Yusoff, who spotted dozens of workers squeezed on the back of the lorry and wearing pink wristbands, purportedly took some of the photos.
Shahanim, who posted the photos on her Facebook page this evening, said she took the pictures herself at a traffic light near the northern Sg Petani toll exit.
Her post comes as public anger intensifies over the government’s flexibility in allowing factories to operate when workplaces make up the majority of Covid-19 clusters.
Adzli said before the video went viral, Covid-19 cases have already been detected at the chicken processing factory, adding that 135 workers have been summoned to the Kuala Muda PKD for investigation purposes and to be fitted with quarantine wristbands.
“The employer has designated one lorry to ferry all 135 infected individuals to the PKD in three trips. The lorry (in the viral video)… was carrying the group in the third trip.”
Police have issued a compound against the lorry driver, 51, under Section 23(2) of the Road Transport Act 1987, he added.
Adzli also said an investigation paper has been opened against the factory manager, 43, under Section 22(b) of the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 for failure to comply with a directive issued by an officer and Section 270 of the Penal Code. – The Vibes, June 13, 2021
