KUCHING: A group of 94 illegal immigrants from Indonesia had been found positive for COVID-19 during a detection operation.
This was disclosed by Sarawak Disaster Management Committee Chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas who was worried with the finding.
According to him, they were working at two oil palm plantations near Sibu with about half of them not yet vaccinated.
Based on a report he had received, they either had no valid travelling passes or their passes had expired.
The group comprising of 47 men, 26 women, 11 male children and 10 female children are now being kept at the COVID-19 Quarantine and Low Risk Treatment Centres (PKRC) at Sibu Hospital and Kolej Laila Taib.
“This is a matter of grave concern for all of us and the State. Those who are yet to be vaccinated will pose a very big threat especially now that the Delta variant is the dominant variant in the State,” said Uggah who is also the State Deputy Chief Minister today.
“I believe this is not an isolated case. Recently I visited a construction site in Kuching where I was told there were two workers from outside whose travelling documents had expired.”
He said they too had not been vaccinated for obvious reasons.
“I strongly urge all the relevant authorities to take the necessary actions to control their presence,” he opined.
Uggah also wanted the surveillance and control operations at the border be beefed up againg because foreigners were still sneaking in from across the border.
“In addition, there must be constant monitoring and checking of plantations and construction sites to flush such elements out. Their continued presence can pose a grave danger and threat to the health of our people during this COVID-19 pandemic situation,” he said.
