COVID-19: Govt mulls screening foreign workers every two weeks

KUALA LUMPUR: The government is considering carrying out COVID-19 health screening of foreign workers every two weeks, said Senior Minister (Security) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

He said the government’s priority now was to carry out the mandatory health screening of foreign workers in states placed under the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO).

“So far, we will start carrying out swab tests on all foreign workers (in CMCO states). If they are negative, we will quarantine them. If positive, we will send them to the hospital.

“If there is a need to carry out swab tests once every two weeks, we will discuss it. For this first round (involving) 1.7 million (foreign workers), we will finish screening them first,” he told a media conference on the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) development today.

Previously, Ismail Sabri announced that health screening was mandatory for all foreign workers in Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Penang, Sabah, Kuala Lumpur and Labuan using the antigen rapid test kit.

He explained that this was crucial to reducing the risk of COVID-19 infectivity among them.

Meanwhile, Ismail Sabri said that the CMCO in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, which is scheduled to end on Dec 6, might be extended if there is an increase in COVID-19 cases in these areas.

However, he said, the matter would be decided after the Ministry of Health (MOH) had conducted its risk assessment.

“We will announce this (whether the CMCO will be extended) based on the risk assessment done by the MOH in the last week before Dec 6,” he said.

-- BERNAMA