Malaysia has begun the mass screening of its migrant workers after Singapore reported 942 cases of Covid-19 on April 18, the Malay Mail reported.

In the wake of developments that the ministry had seen in Singapore, the director-general of Malaysia's health ministry, Noor Hisham Abdullah, said on the same day that foreign workers had been identified as a group for mass screening.

The Star reported that Malaysia had over 600 cases of Covid-19 among its foreign workers so far.

Malaysia appears to be taking note of Singapore's spike in cases since April 16

Malaysia appears to have been paying attention to the rise in Singapore's Covid-19 cases since April 16, when 728 new cases, the highest record at that time, was reported here.

On April 17, Hisham issued a statement that Malaysia must take note of the developments in Singapore, with over 50 per cent of the cases stemming from the foreign workers' dormitories, the Malay Mail reported.

He added: "Because Malaysia also hires a lot of foreign workers, we need to take action to prevent the virus from spreading among our foreign-worker community."

Malaysia suggested before employers responsible for screening workers

At that time, Hisham said the employers had a responsibility to take the necessary steps in protecting their migrant workers in accordance with the Malaysian authorities' guidelines.

These steps included temperature screening, the monitoring of symptoms, increasing the frequency of disinfection in the migrant workers' common areas, implementing social distancing and ensuring that there are no instances of congregation or confined spaces at work or within their quarters.

After Singapore reported 942 cases on April 18, Hisham said the health ministry would embark on a mass screening of the workers.

Illegal foreign workers also need to be tested

Separately, the executive director of the Malaysian Employers Federation, Shamsuddin Bardan, also urged the Malaysian government to do more to control the spread of Covid-19 among illegal foreign workers, The Star further reported.

Shamsuddin added that it was difficult to control and track the spread of Covid-19 among such a demographic given that they were not covered by medical insurance.

In addition, such a group was more likely to live in cramped conditions and very likely outnumbered the population of legal foreign workers, with 3.3 million illegal foreign workers compared to 2.2 million legal ones.

84 cases have been reported in a building housing foreign workers

In a separate report, The Star further highlighted that a building called Selangor Mansion in Kuala Lumpur has reported 84 cases out of its 857 residents.

Some 95 per cent of the building's residents are foreign workers and the conditions of the building have been reported to be extremely filthy.

The building has also not been cleaned since Malaysia imposed its lockdown, known as the Movement Control Order.

A spokesperson for the company that manages the building said that it has not been allowed to clean the building since the lockdown first began.

A resident, Bashor Ahmad, who was interviewed stated that it was difficult to practise social distancing, given that he shared a flat with 15 other people.

"Everyone has just picked a corner to sit in and we hardly speak to one another," a resident said.

Another resident also added that it is difficult to clean the place as they are lacking proper equipment, with barely enough face masks or hand sanitisers.

Top photo by MOHD RASFAN/AFP via Getty Images