KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 21 — The government will conduct a study into the possibility of providing living quarters for foreign workers to curb Covid-19 transmission at construction sites, said Federal Territories Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa.

To this end he said, the ministry is in talks with several other ministries and the Malaysian Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB).

"At times we find foreign workers living at newly completed buildings, we do not want to see this sort of thing happening again.

"Previously, Covid-19 cases were detected at the Pavilion Embassy construction site during the second wave and it is happening again that we now have the Damanlela construction site cluster,” he told a press conference after presenting donations to resident associations of Kuala Lumpur under the Cakna 3.0 initiative.

Also present was his deputy Datuk Seri Dr Santhara Kumar.

Annuar said the rise in cases proved that the foreign workers’ quarters do not meet the standards and the communal living is a serious health threat providing perfect conditions for the spread of the virus.

"As such we see what approach will be taken including feasibility of providing centralised quarters for these foreign workers.

"Those (contractors) who engage the services of foreign workers need to ensure that they are free of the disease and proper housing is provided for the workers.” he said.

As of Nov 18, from a total of 3,128 construction workers screened following detection of the Damanlela Cluster, 1346 positive Covid-19 cases were recorded.

However, Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob was reported to have said,  there was no need for the enforcement of an enhanced movement control order (EMCO) as the Health Ministry had already screened all foreign workers involved and two related construction sites had been closed. — Bernama