PETALING JAYA: The recent spike in Covid-19 cases in Singapore involving a majority of foreign workers should serve as a “wake-up call” on how governments should be more inclusive in the battle against a pandemic, said Rachel Chhoa-Howard, a Singapore researcher at Amnesty International.

Chhoa-Howard said the current situation in Singapore was a stark reminder that societies were only as strong as their weakest link.

She said several groups had for years sounded the alarm about the appalling living and working conditions of migrant workers in Singapore.

“Now faced with an exponential increase in cases, it is imperative that workers have access to the same level of healthcare afforded to Singaporeans, and that their treatment is significantly improved following the Covid-19 outbreak,” she told FMT.

Chhoa-Howard also said the Singaporean government – which had been identified as a global standard bearer by the World Health Organization in curbing the outbreak – should not rely on factory or business operators to ensure the protection of their workers.

According to The Straits Times (ST), the city state’s Manpower Minister Josephine Teo said measures to contain Covid-19 were taken at dormitories since early January, “by asking operators to raise the standard of hygiene, and sharing information with workers on how to protect themselves against the virus”.

But Chhoa-Howard said the government should have taken a much more proactive role at the onset of the outbreak in dormitories.

ST recently reported that foreign workers living in dormitories drove the spike in numbers.

Bloomberg, meanwhile, reported that over 200,000 foreign workers lived in 43 dormitories in Singapore. “Most are housed in crowded and unhygienic quarters, typically with 10 to 12 people sharing a room, making social distancing harder to enforce,” it reported.

Sumitha Shaanthinni Kishna, the director of an NGO called Our Journey, said migrants in Malaysia lived in similar conditions.

She said while the country had bylaws and housing laws pertaining to living conditions, enforcement was poor.

“So the Singapore situation is a wake-up call that we need to ensure our migrant workers live in habitable and hygienic conditions with proper sanitation,” she said.

Sumitha said ensuring migrants lived in better conditions would also help prevent the spread of other communicable diseases such as tuberculosis.

“You can’t cram so many into a room or house and not expect diseases to spread,” she said.

She said while Putrajaya was on the “right track” in terms of how it approached the migrant community in the battle against Covid-19, employers had a role to play in getting their foreign employees tested, as they would know the whereabouts of their workers.

The government should work with the employers to get foreign workers to come forward, she said, but there should be no penalty or detention or fines on the employers.

“This is not the time to throw the book on employers or the workers for non-compliance to immigration laws,” she said.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian Medical Association said the government had been inclusive as seen in how it prioritised screening in Menara City One and the Selayang wholesale market, which have a high population of foreigners.

“Foreigners are an important group as they make up more than 600 of the Covid-19 cases reported in Malaysia,” its president Dr N Ganabaskaran said.

He said testing this group, should be a priority especially since their fear of the authorities would make them reluctant to come forward, while monitoring and contact tracing efforts could also be a challenge.

“NGOs should also continue their work with foreign migrants and assist the authorities,” Ganabaskaran said.

KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama): All Malaysia Airlines passengers are now required to bring and wear their own protective masks effective April 23, 2020, at touch-points such as check-in, boarding, in the aircraft cabin, disembarkation and collection of baggage on arrival to mitigate the spread of Covid-19.

This requirement applies to all passengers (excluding infant) travelling on all Malaysia Airlines’ domestic, international and charter flights, to ensure the comfort and wellbeing of each passenger and airline employee, it said in a statement here Wednesday (April 22).

Malaysia Airlines will not accept passengers that do not have/wear a face mask at the time of check-in and boarding, it stressed.

"For passengers’ own comfort, especially on long haul flights, you are advised to bring additional masks and hand sanitisers for your own use.”

Passengers are also reminded to respect the personal space of others and observe social distancing where required and to comply with other safety measures in our pre-departure and arrival processes to ensure you have a safe journey.

The safety of its passengers and staff is of utmost importance to Malaysia Airlines. - Bernama

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Malaysia Airlines , Passengers , Face Masks , Covid-19

KUCHING: Chief Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg finds the 10 per cent revenue collected from Tourism Tax that was recently announced for Sarawak unacceptable.

He said this was not what had been agreed upon prior to the announcement by Putrajaya.

“We will negotiate with KL (Putrajaya). Initially it was not supposed to be one ringgit (for every RM10 collected),” he said when met by reporters at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching here today.

Abang Johari said he could not bring himself to agree with the 10 per cent because “the initial arrangement is different”.

According to him, Sarawak and Sabah earlier submitted a memorandum to Putrajaya with regards to how revenue collected from the Tourism Tax should be distributed.

He added that the memorandum indicated that the revenue ought to be distributed equally among three regions which are Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak and Sabah.

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Tuesday, 25 July 2017
Rabies claims fifth victim in Sarawak

BY SHARON LING


KUCHING: Veterinary authorities in Sarawak are stepping up efforts to vaccinate as many dogs as possible to control the rabies outbreak, with 20 areas in Serian, Sri Aman and Kuching declared rabies-infected so far.

The outbreak claimed its fifth victim when 52-year-old Tinding Lambang from Kampung Remun, Serian, died at 10.43pm on Sunday.

Health Ministry director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the cause of death was rabies with underlying pulmonary tuberculosis.

Tinding was bitten by a dog in early May and admitted to the Sarawak General Hospital on July 11 after suffering weak limbs, numbness, backache and confusion.

Dr Noor Hisham said five human rabies cases had been reported in Sarawak as of yesterday, all of which have resulted in fatalities. Currently no new case has been reported.

There was a large turnout at the latest free dog vaccination campaign at the Kota Sentosa basketball stadium here yesterday.

image: http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2017/07/25/rabies-claims-fifth-victim-in-sarawak/~/media/96469154a04c4490a3c38d639a2b11e6.ashx?h=199&w=150

The fifth rabies victim Tinding Lambang
Tinding Lambang
“I think the outbreak is getting more serious. The Government is doing a good job in providing vaccination for dogs," said salesman Liew Thaw Yih, who brought his three dogs to be vaccinated.

Although he is from the Pending area in Kuching, which is not affected, he said he did not want to take any chances.

“I'm worried about the situation. I love dogs and before this I never worried about getting bitten, but now if I see a dog I don't dare to go near it,” he added.

State Veterinary Services Department (DVS) officer Dr Sylmie Al-Harir said five teams were involved in the campaign with 2,000 doses of vaccine.

“If the vaccine runs low, we will bring some more from our stock in the lab. Our target is to cover as many dogs as we can,” she said.

According to Dr Sylmie, favourable response from the public showed that they were aware of the importance of getting their dogs vaccinated.

“There are even some people who bring in stray dogs for vaccination. After that, those dogs will be registered and given a tag,” she said.

Save Our Strays (SOS) volunteer Andy Teo said vaccination was the most effective way to curb the outbreak.

Teo said SOS was working with the Sarawak Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA) and DVS to vaccinate stray dogs in and around Kuching city up to Siburan.

He said vaccinated strays were given a blue, red or green PVC chain collar and had their foreheads marked with a red stain.


Read more at http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2017/07/25/rabies-claims-fifth-victim-in-sarawak/#VTYltfp90Z0h4FZI.99

KUCHING: Pengerusi DAP Sarawak, Chong Chieng Jen dalam satu kenyataan semalam mengecam tindakan kerajaan BN Sarawak menganugerahkan projek bernilai RM1 bilion kepada syarikat tempatan tanpa tender terbuka.

Berusaha menimbulkan keraguan terhadap ketelusan pemberian projek tersebut, Chieng Jen berkata, projek naik taraf infrastruktur teknologi maklumat dan komunikasi (ICT) dengan membina 5,000 menara telco itu menyebabkan kerajaan Sarawak terpaksa menanggung beban hutang yang besar.

Selain itu katanya, pemberian projek kepada satu-satunya syarikat yang memiliki kawalan penuh terhadap pembinaan dan pelesenan infrastruktur ICT di Sarawak, SAFOCA Sdn Bhd itu hanya akan menyebabkan peningkatan kos dan tidak efektif.


“DAP menyokong penuh pembangunan ICT di Sarawak tetapi kami membantah cara BN menjalankan proses pemberian projek itu.

“Ini kerana mereka hanya memberikannya kepada satu-satunya syarikat untuk menjalankan dan memonopoli hak membangunkan infrastruktur ICT.

“Ia melibatkan implikasi kos yang tinggi kepada kerajaan dan terpaksa ditanggung rakyat Sarawak,” katanya lagi.

SACOFA ditubuhkan pada tahun 2001 telah diperbadankan sebagai syarikat yang dikawal selia dan dimiliki sepenuhnya oleh kerajaan Sarawak dan telah diberi kuasa penuh mengawal selia infrastruktur ICT Sarawak melalui pindaan undang-undang negeri.

Dakwa Chieng Jen, pada tahun 2015, Kerajaan Sarawak telah menjual sebanyak 50 peratus saham dalam SAFOCA kepada CMS Group (Kumpulan Cahaya Mata Sarawak) di bawah harga sepatutnya.

CMS Group pula merupakan sebuah Syarikat Berkaitan Kerajaan (GLC) yang memiliki lebih 35 anak syarikat yang menjalankan pelbagai perniagaan dalam bidang pembinaan, perdagangan, infrastruktur telco, hartanah, pendidikan dan sebagainya.

Pengumuman pemberian projek bernilai RM1 bilion ini ujar Chong, tidak dapat menolak kemungkinan bahawa segalanya telah ‘dirancang’ supaya CMS Group mendapat potongan harga terbesar daripada projek tersebut.

Ia dapat dilihat berdasarkan beberapa kronologi penting:

1) Kerajaan menubuhkan syarikat untuk menjalankan pengawalan ke atas infrastruktur ICT Sarawak;

2) Dengan kuasa pengawalan itu, syarikat dapat menjalankan aktiviti komersil mereka dengan bantuan kewangan dari kerajaan;

3) Apabila syarikat semakin kukuh, kerajaan menjualkannya dengan murah kepada CMS Group;

4) Kerajaan memberikan kontrak bernilai RM1 bilion kepada SAFOCA untuk memiliki kawalan penuh ke atasnya. – Sarawakvoice