KUALA LUMPUR (April 30): The Ministry of Health (MoH) has so far taken samples from 21,271 foreigners in Malaysia to be tested for Covid-19. Of that, only 811 or 3.8% have been found positive.
These foreigners account for about 13.5% of the 6,002 total Covid-19 cases in the country as of today.
MoH director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said 376 out of the 811 cases are still undergoing treatment, while 431 have recovered and been discharged from hospitals. Four have succumbed to the illness, which make up part of the country's 102 fatalities from Covid-19.
On undocumented migrants, Noor Hisham said the ministry's responsibility is to ensure they do not carry Covid-19 to prevent the spread of infection, especially in areas under an enhanced movement control order (EMCO).
"We have isolated them under the EMCO for a period of two weeks. We will screen them first and after 14 days, we will screen them again. If they test negative again, then only we are sure that they have not been infected.
"For anything more than that, we leave it to the National Security Council (NSC) to take further action," he said during his daily Covid-19 press conference today.
Noor Hisham was responding to a question about the fate of illegal immigrants in areas placed under the EMCO.
Earlier today, Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the government will place all illegal immigrants identified in areas under the EMCO at immigration detention centres after the order is lifted.
Most of the EMCO areas in Kuala Lumpur are known to be living quarters of migrant workers, such as Selangor Mansion and Malayan Mansion. Under the EMCO, all residents and visitors within the area are forbidden from exiting their homes during the order period, and will be tested for possible Covid-19 infection.
Ismail Sabri also said these illegal immigrants may also be sent to 11 special prisons gazetted by the Ministry of Home Affairs (KDN) if the need arises.
Bernama previously reported that KDN had gazetted 11 temporary prisons to accommodate those who are found guilty for violating the MCO, contrary to the assurance Ismail Sabri gave on March 22 that the government had agreed to neither look into the legal status of foreigners nor take any action against them for being in the country without legal status during Covid-19 screening.
At the time, he urged all migrant workers to have no fear to come forward immediately to be tested for Covid-19. He also said illegal migrants should not be worried about their status as the government had agreed not to make it an issue but would instead focus on curbing the pandemic.
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