KUALA LUMPUR, May 1 — The Health Ministry is only responsible for the wellbeing of those in enhanced movement control order (EMCO) areas and is not involved in the enforcement of immigration laws against undocumented migrants there, said Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

He stressed that the ministry did not discriminate in screening for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) or treating those infected regardless of their immigration status.

The Health director-general also argued that the previous assurance that no action would be taken against those who came forward for Covid-19 testing only applied to individuals who heeded the call.

"This is unlike if they come to us, then our job is to ensure they are not infected, whether they are documented or not, or our citizens our responsibility is to make sure they are not infected.

"We locked down the area and ran tests on all of them. That is our responsibility as ministry of Health, other than that,” he said.

Authorities previously appealed to undocumented migrants including refugees and asylum seekers to come forward for testing, after the discovery of the Sri Petaling Covid-19 cluster.

Immigration enforcers are now rounding up undocumented migrants discovered in several EMCO areas to be sent to its detention facilities.

Today, Dr Noor Hisham added that immigration enforcement came under the Home Affairs Ministry and that the Health Ministry has no jurisdiction over the matter beyond ensuring that Covid-19 is not spread to prisons and detention centres.

Yesterday, it was reported that foreigners account for about 13.5 per cent of the total Covid-19 cases in the country.

Dr Noor Hisham had said that out of 21,271 foreigners in Malaysia tested for Covid-19, 811 or 3.8 per cent have been found positive. Out of that, 376 out of the 811 cases are still undergoing treatment, while 431 have recovered and been discharged from hospitals while four have died.