Workplace clusters on the rise even as Covid-19 outbreak shrinks

 

The country is seeing a rising number of Covid-19 clusters at workplaces even as cases begin to decline over the past two weeks, said Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

When Malaysia started the third movement control order (MCO) on May 12, which is the 19th week of the year, there were 44 workplace clusters that week.

The figure rose week-by-week until 107 workplace clusters were reported last week, compared to 92 in the week before when the total lockdown was implemented on June 1.

Noor Hisham said although various guidelines and procedures have been drawn up to limit the number of workers at work and to maintain social distancing, public awareness of its importance is still wanting.

“The community, especially employers and employees, need to realise standard operating procedure (SOP) compliance is for their own good too.

“There are also some members of the community who only care about SOP compliance when law enforcement is in progress.

“This lackadaisical attitude has contributed much to the rise in Covid-19 cases especially at workplaces," he said in a statement. 

“Therefore, the Health Ministry is of the opinion that SOP enforcement at workplaces should be increased to curb the spread of Covid-19 particularly in clusters involving workplaces,” he added.

This is the second time the health director-general had highlighted the rising number of workplace clusters despite the latest MCO. 

Health director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah 

The implementation of the “total lockdown” since June 1, which has been extended until June 28, imposes additional restrictions, including limiting the types of economic sectors allowed to operate to those deemed essential.

Last month, the Human Resources Ministry had launched the Working for Workers (WFW) application to allow workers to submit complaints on labour issues, including to report employers who defy work-from-home orders and other SOPs.

To date, Noor Hisham said 1,328 workplace clusters have been detected, with 147,040 people testing positive for the disease out of 624,246 people screened. This corresponds to a positivity rate of 23.6 percent.

Most of the cases involving workplace clusters are from the manufacturing sector, with 95,156 cases reported from 639 clusters that include factories.

The majority of people infected in workplace clusters are non-citizens (100,086 cases; 68 percent), while the remaining 32 percent (46,954 cases) are Malaysians.

Of the workplace clusters that are still active, four out of five of the largest clusters involved factories, while the fifth involved workers at an eatery. Their details are as follows:

Jalan Tiga Salak Tinggi cluster
Background: Workers at a factory at Kawasan Perusahaan, Bandar Baru Salak Tinggi, Sepang, Selangor.
Cases: 873 out of 1,500 screened (Positivity rate: 58.2 percent)
New cases today: 2

Industri Senawang cluster
Background: Workers at a factory at Senawang Industrial Estate, Seremban, Negeri Sembilan. Cases have also been reported in Malacca.
Cases: 752 out of 8,134 screened (9.2 percent)
New cases today: 16

Industri Batu Berendam cluster
Background: Workers at a factory at Batu Berendam Free Industrial Zone, Melaka Tengah, Malacca.
Cases: 641 out of 15,578 screened (4.11 percent)
New cases today: 14

Jalan Padang Tembak cluster
Background: Workers at a factory at Pengkalan Chepa 2 Industrial Zone, Jalan Padang Tembak, Kota Bharu, Kelantan. Cases have also been reported in Terengganu.
Cases: 598 out of 1,565 screened (38.2 percent)
New cases today: 0

Tok Has cluster
Background: Workers at an eatery at Jalan Sebarang Jertih, Kampung Tok Has, Jerteh, Terengganu.
Cases: 541 out of 3,679 screened (14.7 percent)
New cases today: 0

For the record, only a small fraction of Covid-19 cases in the current outbreak are attributed to any cluster, in contrast to earlier outbreaks in the country.

On June 6, Noor Hisham said only 15.7 percent of new Covid-19 cases recorded from May 30 to June 5 are linked to any cluster, while the remainder were sporadic cases. - Mkini

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