THE Ministry of Health is screening 3,000 undocumented migrants again, in Bukit Jalil and Semenyih immigration detention centres following reports of Covid-19 cases there, said Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

“In Bukit Jalil, for example, some of the detainees were there even before the movement control order (MCO) was imposed and people from Menara One City Plaza in Jalan Masjid India were taken there.”

“Screening is still being carried out. Some 1,200 detainees will undergo swab test, while all staff and officers at the depot have been tested negative.”

“There is no need to panic because the virus is being contained. It is like a quarantine centre and no outsiders are allowed in,” he said during his daily press conference.

Meanwhile, he said 1,600 undocumented migrants at the centre in Semenyih were being screened for Covid 19 after two positive cases were detected.

Yesterday, the Ministry of Health said it had identified a new Covid-19 cluster at the Immigration Department detention centre in Bukit Jalil, where 35 detainees tested positive for the virus.

Director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said 645 people at the facility have been screened since Wednesday.

“There are 400 negative cases, while 210 people are still waiting for their results.

“Those infected are 17 Myanmar nationals, 15 Indians, one Sri Lankan, one Bangladeshi and one Egyptian,” he said at the ministry’s daily press conference on Covid-19 in Putrajaya.

Noor Hisham said the 35 who tested positive were among undocumented migrants in detention before the movement-control order (MCO) took effect on March 18, thus, they had not been screened before. – May 22, 2020.