ARAU: The government cannot be closing the country indefinitely and not allowing the people to move freely, said Senior Minister for Security Ismail Sabri.
“In the end, we need to allow them to be free as Covid-19 will always be around us like dengue,” he told reporters after an audience with the Raja of Perlis, Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Putra Jamalullail, at Istana Arau here today.
Present at the audience was the Raja Muda of Perlis, Tuanku Syed Faizuddin Putra Jamalullail.
Also present in the audience were Perlis Menteri Besar Azlan Man, army chief Zamrose Mohd Zain and defence ministry secretary-general Muez Abd Aziz.
Ismail said when the government allowed the people the freedom of movement, every individual should take preventive measures to avoid getting infected.
“As such, the people have to comply with all SOPs as well as all the instructions announced by the government from time to time. I believe if everybody cooperates, the Covid-19 graph can be flattened.”
He said many countries, such as Taiwan, have no movement controls in place as the people are disciplined and practise self-control so much so that Covid-19 does not spread in the country.
Commenting on the rise in Covid-19 cases over the past few days, Ismail said the total number of cases detected rose after government enforced mandatory screening of all foreign workers in the country.
Yesterday, 1,810 new cases were reported while the day before that there were 2,234 cases.
“There are 888,000 workers (foreign workers) in the country. Just imagine, if 5% are positive, the figure would increase drastically and we have to be prepared with a sufficient number of beds if there are Covid-19 cases among them.
“What I want to stress here is that as long as it does not spread in the community, we would be able to control it as the numbers involve only foreign workers,” he said.
He said at the same time, the human resources ministry is intensifying inspection of workers’ accommodation as many factories did not adhere to Act 446 (Workers Minimum Standard of Housing and Amenities Act 1990), under which employers are required to provide conducive living quarters for their workers.
“Two actions have to be taken, namely swab tests for Covid-19 on foreign workers and ensuring their living conditions are more conducive. Living in cramped conditions, with 20-30 people to an apartment, can cause the disease to spread quickly.”
Earlier, the government made it compulsory for factory foreign workers to undergo Covid-19 screenings from Dec 1.
In another development, Ismail said the government had purchased new equipment, such as drones, to step up surveillance at the Malaysian-Thai border. - FMT
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