CORONAVIRUS | Several people recently deported from Malaysia to Myanmar have since tested positive for Covid-19, according to a news report.
The Irrawaddy said Myanmar has recorded six new Covid-19 cases since Saturday. Of these, five were deportees arriving from Malaysia.
One of them is a 32-year-old man who was among 391 people deported from Malaysia via two chartered flights on May 11.
The report quoted the Myanmar embassy in Kuala Lumpur labour attaché U Aung Zaw Min as saying that these people had been stranded in immigration detention centres across Malaysia for months prior to being deported.
Earlier reports had said deportees would be brought to a quarantine facility near their hometowns to be quarantined for 21 days.
It was during this period that the 32-year-old had tested positive for the disease on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the report today quoted Karen State Social Affairs Minister U Saw Bo Bo Wai Maung as saying that there are 16 people who are quarantined in the state after returning from Malaysia, and they are being kept separate from other patients.
“We had to test them quickly as one of the returnees from Chin state tested positive for Covid-19.
“Here, two out of a total of 16 returnees from Malaysia tested positive for the virus and the others are free of it,” he was quoted as saying.
Tanintharyi Region Immigration and Human Resources Minister U Kyaw Min reportedly said one of the 21 deportees in his region has tested positive for Covid-19 but is in good health.
In Yangon, regional lawmaker U Khin Maung Win said a 41-year-old who returned from Malaysia on a May 8 repatriation flight has tested positive.
Myanmar has reported 187 Covid-19 cases so far, including six deaths.
Malaysia, meanwhile, has recorded 6,941 cases including 113 deaths, with migrant workers being considered a "high-risk" group due to their cramped living conditions.
It is unclear whether the five deported from Malaysia had contracted the disease while in Malaysia, in Myanmar, or while in transit.
However, NGOs in Malaysia had voiced concern over Immigration raids targeting undocumented migrants during the movement control order period.
Among others, they warned that crowded conditions in Immigration detention centres would allow the disease to spread easily, hence putting lives at risk.
Malaysiakini has contacted the Health Ministry regarding the report and is awaiting a response.
Immigration Department director-general Khairul Dzaimee Daud declined to comment on the report when contacted. - Mkini
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