KUALA LUMPUR, May 6 — Police have detained 11 out of the 145 foreign construction workers who fled the Pavilion Embassy site here yesterday, following a Covid-19 screening exercise by the Ministry of Health (MOH).

Bukit Aman Criminal Investigations Department director Datuk Huzir Mohamed confirmed the incident, and assured the public that those who fled had all tested negative for Covid-19, while those who tested positive have already been admitted to hospital for immediate treatment.

"From the 145, we initially arrested six of them, and then five more later.

"The remainder are still being located as we trace their whereabouts,” he said during a press conference here today.

This comes following reports that the group had fled the construction site while being at risk of spreading the virus for being close contacts to those who tested positive.

The site itself has around 400 workers which has since become the latest area to undergo targeted acute testing measures by MOH after the foreign worker clusters were identified as potentially high-risk spreaders.

The incident that saw the group fled the site had apparently occurred after the workers were swabbed while the police were on their way to cordon off the area.