BENTONG:Police have denied allegations which went viral on social media yesterday that about 1,500 workers in Genting Highlands were housed at a hotel in the resort after being tested positive for COVID-19.

Pahang police chief Datuk Seri Abd Jalil Hassan said the screening on all the workers conducted by the Ministry of Health Malaysia (MOH) came out negative but they were placed at the hotel to undergo the 14-day quarantine.

“The move (quarantine) was taken by Genting Highlands after consulting with the Pahang COVID-19 task force committee to facilitate efforts to look after the welfare of their staff.

“The allegation that Genting Highlands has been placed under lockdown is also not true and the public can still visit the area but they must comply with the standard operating procedure (SOP) set,” he said at a press conference at the Bentong District Police Headquarters here today.

Abd Jalil said only three localities in Bentong, namely Ria Apartment, Amber Court Apartment and Rumah Kongsi Kampung Semaut have been placed under the Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) from Dec 10 to 23.

He said about 2,363 residents in the three localities also gave their full cooperation and complied with the prescribed EMCO rules.

The allegation that the Genting Highlands management was ‘hiding’ its positive COVID-19 workers at a hotel to avoid losses has been making its rounds on WhatsApp and Twitter since yesterday.

On the COVID-19 Quarantine and Treatment Centre at the Pahang Sports Complex Indoor Stadium (Sukpa) in Kuantan about 180 kilometres from here, Abd Jalil said 131 low-risk COVID-19 patients from the Jalan Genting cluster in Bentong are currently being housed there.

He said 94 monitoring teams involving 1,525 members of the security forces were deployed throughout the state to monitor SOP compliance in public areas and factories.

-- BERNAMA