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MERU, Selangor: Customers who go to a hardware store in front of Jalan Teratai cannot enter. Instead, they have to stand a meter from the store entrance and tell the clerk what they are looking for.
The store came into the spotlight after local media previously reported that it had put up a sign barring all Top Glove employees from entering.
“That was last week, when the COVID-19 cases in Teratai were less than 100. We have a lot of Top Glove employees who come here to buy hardware,” said the store owner, who did not want to be named.
“Then, after the cases started to grow past 100 the same week, we decided to shut everyone down to be safe.”
A hardware store near Top Glove’s dormitories in Klang has posted notices prohibiting entry to the premises. (Photo: Vincent Tan)
Residents and businesses around Jalan Teratai, Selangor, the new epicenter of Malaysia’s largest COVID-19 cluster, are nervous.
A large part of the residential area along Jalan Teratai, consisting mainly of two-story houses converted into dormitories for workers, was placed behind barbed wire, with the Malaysian police and army controlling checkpoints on the roads. entering and leaving areas located under a movement control order (EMCO) since November 17.
In the midday sun, the CNA saw dozens of foreign workers lining up under tents for Health Ministry workers to check along this highway, which is lined by several Top Glove factories and worker shelters. .
Top Glove is now the largest contributor to Malaysia’s COVID-19 cases. Jalan Teratai has become the epicenter of the country’s largest new COVID-19 clusters.
The world’s largest rubber glove maker has shut down 20 of its factories in an area outside of Kuala Lumpur in stages since November 17 after nearly 3,000 workers tested positive for the coronavirus, with another eight facilities in the same area operating. below 20 percent of its capacity.
As of Thursday (November 26), there are 60,752 cases of COVID-19 nationwide.
READ: Malaysia’s Top Glove Shares Fall After Government Says Factories Must Close
“IT HAS ARRIVED VERY QUIET”
“We didn’t know the workers were infected until last week,” said resident Kandasamy Padakat Hurian, 43, who lives in a house directly across from a workers’ dormitory.
“When I went to work at 7 am on Monday (November 16), the army and police trucks were already here. When I came back at night, the (barbed) wire was in place,” Kandasamy recounted.
Barbed wire surrounds Top Gear workers’ dormitories along Jalan Teratai, where the “Teratai Cluster” has become Selangor’s largest conglomerate, with 1,511 cases recorded out of 1,623 cases in the state as of November 25. 2020 (Photo: Vincent Tan).
Before last week, Jalan Teratai was busy in the afternoons as small traders and street vendors filled the street with stalls.
“When the government came and closed the place, everyone fled. It has become very quiet,” he said.
Ms Usha Ramanathan, a housewife who lives further down the street, watched foreign workers queuing under tents for Health Ministry staff to examine them.
“At first we were worried, and even now my husband and I don’t go out if we don’t have to. We only bring food or cook at home.
“Sometimes we shop in the same places as foreign workers, so there was a bit more concern, especially in the beginning when the government closed the dormitories,” he said.
READ: Malaysia’s Largest Rubber Glove Maker Optimistic About Prospects As Demand Soars Amid COVID-19
SHORT TERM LOSSES
About 100 meters from the closed dormitories, the owner of a bakso (dumplings) shop along Jalan Kenangan that connects to Jalan Teratai, said that before the strict closure, workers would come to eat.
“Right now, we feel worried and scared. You can’t see the virus and you worry about what happened before and if an infected worker had visited your position, ”said the owner, who just wanted to be known as Siti.
“But at the same time, we also feel a little bit safer, because they have closed the shelters and everyone is forced to undergo tests,” he added.
Medical workers are treated at a Top Glove shelter under enhanced lockdown in Klang, Malaysia, on November 18, 2020 (Photo: Reuters / Lim Huey Teng).
Siti said there has been some loss of income in the short term, as no worker can visit his restaurant now.
“We were concerned that revenues would drop a little bit, but it’s not a big problem. Now you feel safer after the place is closed, ”he added.
5,700 WORKERS SCREENED
On Wednesday, Top Glove issued a statement outlining the company’s actions to mitigate the COVID-19 outbreak in its workers’ bedrooms, and said it completed the review of some 5,700 workers affected by the EMCO instituted on 17 December. November.
READ: Malaysia’s Top Glove Says COVID-19 Outbreak May Drive Prices Up After Factory Closures
A worker on the production line of a Top Glove factory in Shah Alam, near Kuala Lumpur, in August 2020 (Photo: AFP / Mohd Rasfan)
“The massive overhaul of the remaining Top Glove employees in the area is expected to be completed by the end of the week,” the statement said, adding that since EMCO’s inception, employees had been handing out free food and other items. essential to your colleagues. three times a day.
The company also assured that its gloves were not contaminated. He said this was impossible due to the production and delivery processes the gloves went through before reaching customers.
“The production process is also highly automated and requires minimal human intervention,” Top Glove said, adding that the packers wore full personal protective equipment, including suits, gloves, masks and masks without direct contact with the product. final. .
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