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IPOH (THE STAR / ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – Malaysia is expanding its Covid-19 screening program for foreign workers across the country starting Tuesday (February 2), the Human Resources minister said on Saturday (January 30). , M. Saravanan.
The program will involve 800,000 foreign nationals working in Malaysia and focuses on four “high risk” states and two federal territories, he said.
He said these states are Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Penang, Sabah and the federal territories of Kuala Lumpur and Labuan.
Malaysia has some two million migrants working in the country legally, mainly in factories, plantations and construction sites, as security guards and office cleaners.
Covid-19 cases rose to a new record of 5,745 per day on Friday, while the cumulative total of coronavirus cases is above the 200,000 mark.
There have been several outbreaks of infections among foreign workers in recent weeks, including those working at a glove factory in Klang, Selangor, security guards at a Johor Baru shopping mall, and at Malaysia’s largest wholesale market in Kuala Lumpur. .
The screening program will be implemented by the government’s Social Security Organization (Socso) with the cooperation of private clinics, said Datuk Seri Saravanan.
He said Socso has added 54 million ringgit to its outlay to expand the screening program.
“Screening will use Rapid Antigen Test Kits (RTK-Ag), with the cost of the kits at Socso’s expense,” he said.
But employers will have to pay any fees imposed by the clinics and must also bear the full cost of evaluations for foreign workers who are not Socso contributors, “the minister said in a statement.
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