PETALING JAYA: Residents at the Menara City One condominium in Kuala Lumpur have denied there was a mixup among occupants that led to congestion during a Covid-19 screening procedure last night.
This comes after health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said residents in Block B had gone to be screened when it was only meant for occupants in Block A.
In a joint statement, the condominium’s residents and management said the management had repeatedly asked for the screening procedure to be staggered floor by floor.
They said what occurred last night was clearly against the health ministry’s own guidelines, adding that this was the second time this had happened, with the first taking place on April 8.
“We deny there was a massive number of Block B residents who came for the screening intended for Block A, as mentioned by Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah in his press conference today.
“Containing the spread of disease can never be successful without support from the general public. This support would be gladly provided if we acknowledge areas where we can assist each other,” they said in a statement today.
They also said the door-to-door surveillance conducted by health workers on March 31 was inadequate as they were not asked for information on their travel history or close contacts with high-risk, quarantined or Covid-19 positive persons.
They called on the ministry to be more transparent in its screening plan and to perform door-to-door screening instead.
In a response this evening, health director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah thanked all residents for their cooperation and said mass gatherings, where social distancing was not being observed, was a matter of concern to the ministry.
He said on Twitter that state health departments had been urged to work closely with the police, residents and managements to better improve the implementation in future.
Earlier, the residents and building management had said that “asking the residents to assemble in large crowds and queuing up for testing is exposing them unnecessarily to Covid-19 infection.”
Menara City One residents had complained about screening procedures at the condominium, which is under lockdown, alleging that health workers did not practise the right guidelines during a screening at 9 last night.
A resident told FMT that between 200 to 300 people were gathered in the open area for the screening, which was not the norm as they were previously tested floor by floor.
In his daily press conference, Noor Hisham said the mixup led to residents in Block B going for the screening, which caused the congestion.
“We worked together with the police to calm down the situation. It took some time to ensure social distancing was complied with,” he said.
He said the ministry will look toward improving the procedure in future and ensure that social distancing is complied with strictly, stressing that the ministry took this matter seriously.
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