KUALA LUMPUR – The Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) wants to clear misconceptions on repeated allegations in the media that factories are a primary source of Covid-19 infections.
Quoting data from the Health Ministry, FMM president Tan Sri Soh Thian Lai said in a statement today that the majority of cases, especially in 2021, have been sporadic ones, and did not originate from clusters, including workplace clusters.
It is evident, Soh said, from data released by the ministry on June 21 that 69% (398,846 out of 578,105) of Covid-19 cases recorded this year until June 19 were sporadic cases.
“While it must be acknowledged that the risk of factory infections cannot be totally eliminated, especially now with the high percentage of sporadic cases and with the virus in the community, this most certainly cannot be equated to the lack of standard operating procedure (SOP) compliance by factories and is a very unfair conclusion to be made.
“With the rise in sporadic cases, managing the entry of infections into the factory or hostels has become more challenging for the industry despite the SOPs and preventive measures in place, including swab tests, because the virus may still enter factories especially through asymptomatic sporadic cases,” he said.
Soh said these infections were often not traced back to the community where they most likely originated from, but to the factories, as one community-related infection among workers leads to more workers getting tested due to close contact tracing.
“This, in turn, is reported as a workplace cluster by the authorities, giving rise to the misconception that workplaces, especially factories, are the primary source of infection.
“Hence, it is important that the government makes its lockdown decisions based on science and data, and not on misconceptions,” he added.
Soh also recommended that the government only close specific companies where cases of Covid-19 are detected and not declare the enhanced movement control order (EMCO) on an entire area or state, or impose strict operation conditions on all businesses.
“It is unfair to unaffected companies, especially those that have a clean record and have maintained the highest levels of SOPs and workplace preventive measures,” he said.
Soh said that if all factories were forced to shut, the impact would be devastating to the economy.
“Businesses cannot be sustained if factory operations are closed or reduced in capacity.
“It will lead to knock-on effects in the economy with significant loss of jobs due to the extensive supply chains and networks involved in manufacturing,” he added.
FMM said that if industries are forced to keep their doors shut for too long, it could lead to economic stagnation and irreversible damage to the economy, including a possible exodus of foreign investors and reduction in domestic investments. – The Vibes, July 14, 2021
