KUALA Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) is in the midst of rescuing some 300 homeless folk in the capital to add to the 638 already provided shelter during the movement-control order (MCO).

DBKL’s Community Development and Urban Well-being Department director, Anwar Mohd Zain, told The Malaysian Insight that the operation will resume in the next few days.

“We can’t tell the exact figure, but I think there are still 200 to 300 homeless people out there.

“In a few days, we will do another round of (the rescue) operation and bring them to the temporary shelters.”

DBKL started the operation on March 26 as part of efforts to curb the Covid-19 outbreak. It has set up seven temporary shelters for the homeless to stay in for the duration of the MCO, which is in its third phase till April 28.

Anwar said there are plans to increase the number of shelters, and arrangements are under way.

“We have identified the (places to be used as) temporary shelters. Depending on the operation and numbers, we will open more shelters.”

These shelters are separated into four categories: healthy, unhealthy, foreigners and red zone.

Three are in the “healthy” category, namely the Tasik Ampang Hilir community centre (housing 105 people), Sentul Perdana community centre (179) and Desa Tasik sports complex (50).

The two “unhealthy” shelters are the Setiawangsa community hall (108) and Seri Delima sports complex (45).

The Alam Damai multipurpose hall in Cheras, under the “foreigners” category, is housing 71 non-citizens, while a “red zone” shelter in Masjid India has 79 people.

Anwar said four children have been rescued in the operation.

“There is one child in Sentul Perdana and three in Alam Damai, including an infant. All of them are with their families.”

He previously gave an assurance that the enforcement officers conducting the operation follow all the procedures set out by the Health Ministry, and that the homeless folk picked up undergo screening for the coronavirus.

Civil society group Kembara Kitchen, which runs a soup kitchen in Kuala Lumpur, provides the homeless at the temporary shelters with six meals a day. – April 17, 2020.