No individual will choose to leave their family behind and live in hardship abroad, said the Health Ministry in cautioning against blaming migrant workers for the recent spike in Covid-19 infection numbers.
Among others, the Health Ministry in a Facebook post yesterday noted that many migrant workers were unable to adhere to social distancing protocols and other prevention measures outside of their workplace.
"We cannot blame them because they are forced to live in cramped conditions. They have no choice.
"They are migrant workers who came here due to poverty. If given a choice, for sure they would choose to be with their own families in their own country," said the post which touched questions on whether the conditional movement control order would be extended beyond June 9.
"No one will choose to live in hardship," it added.
Recent weeks have seen a trend of new Covid-19 infection clusters detected among migrants who are in current employment or detained at four immigration detention depots.
The Health Ministry said while the number of local infections among Malaysians has shown a steady decrease as a result of adherence to set standard operating procedures, the same could not be said for migrant workers.
The ministry said Malaysians should not ignore the rising infection numbers among migrant workers as a majority of them have been living among local communities in the absence of accommodation provided by their employers.
While the Malaysian public has a duty to encourage adherence of SOPs among migrants, the ministry said a bigger responsibility lies with employers to improve existing accommodation facilities for their workers in line with new Covid-19 prevention guidelines.
"Adherence to SOPs by locals and migrants must go hand in hand. Otherwise, both parties will not be able to live in harmony," it said, adding that the ministry's role was to detect and treat new Covid-19 cases.
Clusters of migrant workers infected with Covid-19 have been found across several states, the latest being at construction sites that reopened for work beginning May 12.
Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah had previously advised that living conditions of foreign workers be improved to prevent them from becoming a hotbed for infectious diseases outbreaks.
Human Resources Minister M Saravanan also announced that enforcement of a law that allows the ministry's strict oversight over workers’ accommodation would be postponed to Sept 1 to allow more time for compliance by employers. - Mkini
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