This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on April 17, 2020

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has yet to see any significant cluster of Covid-19 infections among foreign workers in the country, according to the ministry of health (MoH).

And the MoH has been working with non-governmental organisations (NGOs), such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Mercy Malaysia, to ensure foreign workers and refugees are protected under the Covid-19 preventive and control measures undertaken by the government.

“So far we have not seen a cluster formation [among foreign workers], but the screenings are actually a continuous process,” Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah told reporters during his daily update on the Covid-19 situation in the country yesterday.

For instance, Dr Noor Hisham said the MoH has conducted screenings on 465 individual foreign workers in Pasar Borong Kuala Lumpur in Selayang. From that group, 13 cases, or about 3%, came out positive.

Pasar Borong Kuala Lumpur, the country’s biggest wholesale market, was noted to have recorded two positive cases on April 1. This prompted the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) to close the market the next day to conduct sanitising.

The two positive cases were both vegetable traders, but their source of infection remains unclear.

“So we will continue to enhance our services in terms of screening to trace, track, test, isolate and treat them as well,” Dr Noor Hisham said.

The issue, however, is that many foreign workers are afraid to come forward to do testing, he said.

As such, the MoH is considering conducting targeted testing in high-risk areas, such as those with a high population of foreign workers, he said.

The concern over foreign workers arose as Singapore recorded a shocking 447 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, with over 90% of them being migrant workers. Singapore also identified four new clusters of infections, with three from its foreign worker dormitories.

Dr Noor Hisham previously said that foreign nationals who walk in for Covid-19 tests would not be charged regardless of their socio-economic background.

Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaacob has also urged foreign nationals to get tested if they exhibit any Covid-19 infection symptoms, even if they were undocumented immigrants.