A SMALL group of residents in Menara City One Condominium remain untested for Covid-19, nearly a month since they were put under lockdown on March 31, said a residents’ committee member.

The committee member who asked for anonymity blamed the situation on the language barrier, lack of communications and poor data collection by the authorities.

However, she stressed, that the unscreened made up only a fraction of the residents, adding that the management had managed to round up most of them for test on April 23, almost three weeks after the enhanced movement control order (EMCO) was enforced in the building.

She said the management only got to know of the issue after receiving complaints from neighbours in the condominium. 

“In the past few days, we got to know there are people who have not been tested. Initially, the plan by the ministry was to call them up unit by unit. Somehow, there are some units that were not called at all.

“The residents in these units do not mix around and they are not even in the WhatsApp group. So they don’t know anything about the screening.,” she said.

She said the management has since taken steps to get these residents tested.

“We, together with our security guards, made announcements to all residents in both blocks in Malay, English, Urdu (Pakistani language) and Bengali (Bangladeshi language) to get them screened.

“Quite a few came down on April 23 and got tested for the first time,” she said.

She also said that she was not overly worried about the small number of residents who have not undergone the screenings.

She said they have remained indoors and been isolated for almost a month, meaning that they may possibly no be contagious or infectious even if they have had the virus.

“We’ve been under lockdown for almost a month. Basically, what they have done is an involuntary quarantine and by now, these people who might be asymptomatic probably won’t be contagious anymore.

“We have been quarantined for almost a month now and I don’t think there is any problem at all. One cannot remain contagious and infectious forever,” she said.

Menara City One, located in Jalan Munshi Abdullah around the Masjid India area, was the first residential high-rise to be locked down in the capital. The complex houses 3,200 residents in 502 units.

She also blamed the authorities’ poor data collection for some residents being overlooked for tests.

She said the authorities could have crosschecked their data on the residents with the building management.

“When the Health Ministry did a door-to-door census, their personnel didn’t enter all the units. Most just stood at the door and in such cases, there could have been a few hidden residents in the unit.

“They also refused to disclose the list of residents. If they had done that, the management could have helped to advise,” she said, adding that some residents had waited in their units in expectation of being called for a screening on days the tests were carried out but the call never came.

On Saturday, the Health Ministry said there was a misunderstanding at Menara City One that resulted in the residents breaching social distancing guidelines during tests conducted the night before.

Director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said Covid-19 tests were scheduled for residents of one block in the complex but residents from two blocks had responded to the call for tests.

However, residents have refuted the director-general’s explanation for the disorganised mass testing at the apartment complex, blaming the authorities’ haphazard manner instead.

To date, Menara City One has 51 virus cases and one death from Covid-19.

The EMCO for the complex was first enforced for two weeks from March 31. On April 14, it was extended for another two weeks until April 28.

The surrounding areas are also locked down.

Senior Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the EMCO was extended due to a rise in cases among residents. – April 27, 2020.