PETALING JAYA: DAP’s Seputeh MP Teresa Kok has suggested that the government work with companies and manufacturers to build private quarantine centres to house foreign workers who have been tested positive for Covid-19.
She said home quarantine for foreign workers infected with Covid-19 would not work and they were bound to form new clusters because they live in crowded places.
Citing a Bernama report, she said the Selangor state assembly was informed that 53,571 industry workers were Covid-19 positive since July.
“Some 62% of them were in the manufacturing sector (33,214 people); 14.5% were from the services sector (7,768); 13.5% construction workers (7,232) and 10% in the trading sector (5,357),” she said.
She said the country has been recording high Covid-19 cases and deaths until today although the health minister had said that serious cases had decreased since many were vaccinated.
Kok urged the health ministry to hold dialogues with companies and manufacturers with high Covid-19 numbers among their migrant workers to jointly build the quarantine centres, adding that the government could offer tax cuts to donors who help build the temporary sites.
She also suggested that the government work with state governments, NGOs and manufacturing and business associations to find suitable sites for the private quarantine centres.
Kok said the centres could be set up in empty factory lots, closed budget hotels, vacant commercial buildings, and public halls.
Source: https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2021/09/06/build-private-quarantine-centres-for-migrant-workers-says-kok/