200 Indonesian Migrant Workers Returning From Malaysia Test Covid-19 Positive

BATAM, KOMPAS.com –200 Indonesian migrant workers returning to Indonesia from Malaysia via the Riau Islands province has tested positive for Covid-19 during a four-month period from January to April.

Officials announced the findings on Tuesday, following reports that Malaysia’s coronavirus outbreak has taken a turn for the worse, especially for young people.

“We found the positive cases, after we carried out PCR snd PMI swab tests on more than 14 thousand workers who arrived from Malaysia via Batam and Tanjungpinang,” said Covid-19 Task Force for the Riau Islands chief Tengku Said Arief Fadillah in a written statement.

Also read: Indonesian Police: Thousands Affected by Used Rapid Test Samples in North Sumatra

“Most of the Covid-19 cases among the migrant workers are asymptomatic. They are currently in isolation at the Covid-19 hospital on Galang, one of the islands in the Batam island chain.”

He acknowledged the public’s concerns about the spread of Covid-19 cases, and assured that the Task Force will minimize transmission of the coronavirus by optimizing swab tests and obtaining results for PCR tests on the same day.

The Indonesian migrant workers returned from Malaysia, as the country’s Covid-19 pandemic particularly struck the young.

Also read: Indonesian Police Bust Medical Workers Reusing Old Rapid Test Kits

The Free Malaysia media website reported that 10 of the 19 coronavirus deaths last April, or 47.4 percent of all fatalities, are between the ages of 23 to 50.

The Malaysian Ministry of Health also reported that the surge in daily cases that is approaching four thousand cases have filled ICU occupancy bed rates by 70 percent, following a 62 percent surge over the past two weeks.

Malaysia has recorded 1,574 deaths from the coronavirus out of 420,632 cases. 387,542 people are known to have recovered from Covid-19, while another 30 thousand cases are still thought to be ongoing.

(Writer: Hadi Maulana, Batam Contributor Batam | 
Editor : Aditya Jaya Iswara, David Oliver Purba)

Sources: 

https://regional.kompas.com/read/2021/05/04/111319078/tiba-di-kepri-200-tki-yang-datang-dari-malaysia-dinyatakan-positif-covid-19?page=all. 

https://www.kompas.com/global/read/2021/05/04/120027870/covid-19-di-malaysia-makin-parah-banyak-pasien-usia-muda-meninggal?page=all.