Employers Have Until March 31 to Screen All Foreign Workers
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Human Resource Minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan announced that employers must ensure their foreign workers undergo COVID-19 screening by March 31, 2021, or the Human Resource Ministry will take action against them.
Before this, the ministry gave the employers time until February 28, 2021, to screen their foreign workers. If they failed to do so, the Immigration Department would suspend the renewal of the foreign workers' temporary work visit passes.
Saravanan stated that in the beginning, the COVID-19 screening programme for foreign workers only involved six red zone states. However, the government chose to extend the screening programme nationwide after it found out its effectiveness in stopping the pandemic's spread.
The minister said that right now, over a million out of 1.7 million foreign workers registered under the Social Security Organisation (Socso) have undergone the screening programme.
In another news, Saravanan said the Human Resource Ministry and the Home Ministry had identified about 300,000 illegal immigrants under the Recalibration Plan that assists the government in tracing illegal immigrants to curb the pandemic.
The COVID-19 Screening Programme
In November 2020, the Human Resource minister announced that it was mandatory for foreign workers in all sectors working in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Negeri Sembilan, Penang, Sabah and Labuan to undergo the COVID-19 Screening Programme beginning January 1.
The screening programme is provided under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 (Act 342) through Regulation 10 of the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Measures within the Infected Local Areas) (No. 9) Regulations 2020 [P.U.(A) 400 dated December 31 2020] which begins from January 1, 2021, until March 31, 2021.
The minister also said that Socso's COVID-19 Screening Programme is only for foreign workers who possess temporary work pass.
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Employers must ensure all foreign workers are screened by March 31.
Socso would cover the RTK-Antigen test kit for the first COVID-19 screening. Employers will only need to pay for the service cost charged by private clinics or hospitals for foreign workers who contribute to Socso.
Employers will need to bear the full cost of the screening for foreign workers who do not contribute to Socso.
Employers can screen their foreign workers at Socso panel clinics or hospitals. Employers can also arrange with the clinics or hospitals to conduct the screening at the employers' premises.
You can refer to the list of clinics and hospitals registered as SOCSO Health Screening Panel at the PSP Portal. You may also contact SOCSO for further questions via email at hsp@perkeso.gov.my or call 1300-22-8000 or 03-4264 5089.
Source: Malay Mail/Bernama
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