Eight quarantine and low-risk treatment centres reactivated to cater to increase in Covid-19 cases among migrant workers

KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 9): Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the number of Covid-19 positive cases is expected to remain high following the massive screenings on foreign workers.

Given the increase in confirmed cases, the Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC) has reactivated eight Covid-19 Quarantine and Low-Risk Treatment Centre (PKRC) at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park in Serdang (MAEPS) or known as PKRC (MAEPS) 2.0.

In addition, the PKRC (MAEPS) 2.0 will be opened in phases with a maximum capacity of 1,000 beds. Dr Noor Hisham noted that the first phase of the centre begins today with 650 capacity beds which will then be added gradually.

According to Dr Noor Hisham, the facility accommodates 250 non-citizens who had been isolated at the Ministry of Health Training Institute (ILKKM) Sungai Buloh.

He said, the number of Covid-19 patients at PKRC (MAEPS) 2.0 is expected to increase this week as 400 new patients of Category 1 are expected to be placed in the facility.

“About 80% of patients came from Category 1, while 14% came from Category 2. This means about 94% will be placed in PKRC (MAEPS) 2.0.

“Meanwhile, less than 5% of patients came from Category 3, 4 and 5.  We believe our public hospitals are able to accommodate patients in these categories. The use of intensive care units (ICUs) is less than 0.6%, from 1,550 ventilators that we have,” added Dr Noor Hisham.

Category 1 refers to asymptomatic patients while Category 2 consists of patients with mild symptoms, according to the Ministry of Health (MOH). Category 3 is for positive cases with pneumonia, Category 4 is for pneumonia cases that require oxygen, and Category 5 is for cases that require breathing assistance.

He said the Social Security Organisation (SOCSO) is conducting massive screenings, in four States and two Federal Territories, namely Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Negeri Sembilan, Sabah and Labuan.

“Recently, there has been a significant increase in Covid-19 positive cases due to the expansion of screening of workers, especially migrant workers in factories and construction sites,” said Dr Noor Hisham at a press briefing today.

He noted that most of the Covid-19 positive cases among the foreign workers came from Category 1 and 2.

Earlier today, Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob also announced that the government has decided to reactivate Covid-19 PKRC at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park in Serdang (MAEPS) following a spike in Covid-19 cases.

The Minister said the decision was also made due to the implementation of the SOCSO programme to screen foreign workers.

Malaysia's daily new Covid-19 cases dropped to 959 today, after six consecutive days of reporting four-digit increases. It also recorded five deaths from the coronavirus, according to MOH.

The Ministry also reported a higher number of new recoveries with 1,068 Covid-19 patients having recovered from the disease today. This trimmed the number of active cases — which carry high transmission risks — to 10,748.

Selangor recorded the highest number of infections today, with 277 cases, followed by Sabah (203) and Kuala Lumpur (129).