KUALA LUMPUR – There is no need for the enhanced movement control order in areas surrounding the Damanlela construction site as infected workers and close contacts are already in quarantine, said Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob today.
The senior minister said the decision was made following advice from the Health Ministry.
“The Health Ministry is conducting screening on construction workers there, and those who have tested positive, have been sent to hospital for treatment.
“Some have tested negative, while others awaiting their results have been sent to quarantine facilities especially for them.”
He said 3,070 workers have been screened as of today.
“Two construction sites in the Damanlela cluster have been closed. They are Parcels 2 and 3 of Pavilion Damansara Heights.
“Hence, the ministry is of the view that there is no need to impose the EMCO in the surrounding areas.”
Asked about the effectiveness of imposing the EMCO in parts of the Klang Valley, he said: “Aside from the EMCO, we also carry risk assessments whenever there is a sudden rise in infections.
“For example, in Selangor, we have two localities under the EMCO – Medan 88 in Sepang and the latest one in Meru, which involves Top Glove worker dormitories.
“Based on risk assessments, we will imposed a targeted EMCO in localities, not the entire Kuala Lumpur, for example. There is no plan to put Kuala Lumpur and Selangor under lockdown.”
On Covid-19 screening for foreign workers, he said: “The Human Resources Ministry did suggest screening all foreign workers. But we have about 1.7 million of them nationwide.
“After discussions, Socso (Social Security Organisation) agreed to partially foot the bill (RM150 per person) for swab (PCR) tests for one million foreign workers. The remaining are not registered with Socso.
“We may decide that employers will pay for the tests. Otherwise, the workers will have to pay for it.
“Another issue is, how long will it take us to complete 1.7 million swab tests? How many labs do we have that can conduct these tests? It will take a long time.
“Previously, when we directed all security workers to undergo swab tests, the queue in Kuala Lumpur itself was too long, hundreds of metres long. Some were scared of catching the virus while standing in line.
“So, for a start, perhaps we can focus on areas with a lot of foreign workers in Kuala Lumpur, Negri Sembilan and Penang. It has been suggested that instead of PCR tests, we can carry out antigen tests, (which have) faster results and are cheaper.”
He added that the Human Resources and Health Ministries, and National Security Council (NSC) will discuss the matter and come up with a solution.
“For example, Singapore has its foreign workers tested every two weeks.”
On foreign worker housing, he said: “We have laws that recently came into force. Some of them are living 30 to a house when there is space for only 10.
“The Covid-19 spread can also be caused by worker movement – buying food, necessities – sometimes, we cannot tell the difference between Malaysians and foreign workers.”
He said these issues will be brought up at the special NSC meeting on Friday.
The Damanlela cluster had more than 1,100 Covid-19 cases as of yesterday. – The Vibes, November 18, 2020
