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PETALING JAYA: The Director General of Health, Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah, has explained that migrant workers who were seen walking through a construction site wearing pink wristbands were allowed to do so as they were involved in community screening and not in close contact exams.
He said this after a few photos showing workers in pink bracelets working at a construction site went viral.
In a Facebook post, he said 264 out of 273 of the workers passed community examinations at the construction site and were given the pink bracelets to indicate they were foreigners.
“This was done to prevent them from leaving the construction area,” he said.
He added that they all lived in nearby shared worker units.
“Developers have been told to make sure everyone who is screened stays inside the construction area,” he said, adding that security guards and police were stationed to conduct surveillance.
Noor Hisham added that the developers had also temporarily ceased operations to make way for disinfection work from November 13 to November 15, until the test results of the community assessments were available on November 15.
After that, health officials issued an order to release the workers and cut off their bracelets at the construction site.
Noor Hisham said that based on the test results, only one worker tested positive. He did not live in the place.
Eight close contacts were identified and all were isolated from November 7 to November 20.
“All other workers tested negative and received their release order on November 15, except for the eight close contacts who are still in quarantine.”
