Sin Chew Daily

Director-general of health Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the health ministry would conduct mass COVID-19 screening of foreign workers as well as 11,047 students at 197 religious schools across the country. So far 3,892 students have been tested, of whom 277 or 7.1% test positive.

After 32 days of MCO beginning March 18, the health ministry said last Saturday it would modify its coronavirus prevention strategy after four consecutive days of downtrend in the number of new positive cases, and would now focus on the mass screening of religious school students and migrant workers, a move it would carry out soon without any delay.

Places of mass gatherings have now become high-risk areas, as new clusters are identified in several religious schools in the country as well as four highrise apartment blocks with large concentrations of migrant worker populations in the capital city. It is imperative that the ministry take resolute actions to prevent the coronavirus from spreading wildly in such crowded localities.

Singapore is currently experiencing an explosion in coronavirus cases among its foreign workers, with the number of new cases increasing very rapidly.

The total number has now surpassed the 8,000-mark following another record increase of 1,426 cases as of Monday, with overwhelming majority of new cases involving foreign workers.

Singapore home affairs minister K. Shanmugam said the sudden surge in coronavirus cases among migrant workers in the city-state was primarily due to communal living and not just personal habits.

Meanwhile in Malaysia, due to the much lower population density and the fact our foreign workers—legal or illegal—come from many different countries, they are scattered all over the towns and countryside, making it extremely difficult for the authorities to identify areas with large concentrations of foreign worker populations. While they are also facing severe infection risks, many are in unknown corners beyond the reach of our medical teams.

We have no idea whether any of them has been infected, but they continue to walk into our markets and convenience stores, spreading the virus probably without them knowing it. In view of this, it is utterly essential for the health ministry to pick out asymptomatic cases among them as soon as possible.

Local governments, business owners, residents or anyone with the information are duty-bound to tip the authorities to help the ministry conduct mass screening of foreign workers, and send the confirmed or suspected cases as well as those who need to be quarantined, for treatment.

In the meantime, the police, ATM, customs officials and border posts must stay highly alert and blockade all human trafficking activities as well as insider deals to fend off imported coronavirus cases.