PUTRAJAYA, May 2 — Undocumented migrants detained during recent Immigration raids were previously screened three times for Covid-19, Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said today.
He was responding to a question on the potential risks of sending the detained migrants to immigration detention centres.
Dr Noor Hisham said of the migrants screened on April 1 within and around Kuala Lumpur, 586 were found to be undocumented.
“In the past two weeks or so we have done three swab tests for all of them, and we are quite certain they are free from Covid-19,” Dr Noor Hisham said during his daily press conference.
He added the group were also segregated at the immigration detention centres where they have since been sent.
“The operations took into account migrants in general, and the authorities also inspected some 3,300 legal ones. They have faced no issue and were also tested, and once everything was cleared were permitted to return to their residences.
“Also note that operations were conducted in some areas under the enhanced movement control order. As a matter of principle, everyone living in EMCO localities will be tested for Covid-19, as part of the ministry’s targeted approach,” Dr Noor Hisham said.
Any positive cases detected among the legal and undocumented migrants have since been removed and admitted into hospitals for treatment, per proper standard operating procedures.
The Immigration Department’s recent raids led to criticism from human rights groups and the United Nations in Malaysia, who feared such moves could drive vulnerable groups into hiding instead of seeking medical treatment in the event they contract Covid-19.
