Condo residents deny crowding at Covid-19 tests due to Block B residents

PETALING JAYA: The residents and management of Menara City One condominium deny that the overcrowding in the common area during the Covid-19 screening by the Health Ministry was caused by residents from Block B.

"We are extremely disappointed over how the Health Ministry conducted these screening sessions," said the residents, the management of Menara City One condominium and Management Corporation (MC) in a joint statement on Saturday (April 25).

"We deny there was a massive number of Block B residents who came for the April 24 screening intended for Block A, as mentioned by Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah in his press conference today.

"At one point, there were hundreds of people queuing up, regardless of age or potential risk factors such as recent travel history to high-risk countries or close contacts with confirmed Covid-19 cases," they said.

They said with so many residents waiting for their turns in such a small space, social distancing became very difficult to achieve.

According to them, for the 12th screening session on April 24, Health Ministry personnel requested that residents from multiple units and multiple floors to all come down at the same time to the common area without any thought of cross-infection.

"The mass screening sessions on April 8 and April 24 were crystal-clear proof that the authorities have been jeopardising the health and safety of residents.

"Despite repeated pleas, requests and demands made by MC and the building management for staggered, floor-by-floor or unit-by-unit screening, chaotic screening happened twice.

"This is a clear contradiction of the ministry's own guidelines for isolation and social distancing," they said.

They also said the door-to-door surveillance exercise on March 31 was inadequate as recent travel history and close contact with high-risk, quarantined or positive individuals were not obtained.

They suggested that the ministry be transparent in the Covid-19 screening plan and for the authorities to ask for crowd control assistance from the residents committee and management and to carry out door-to-door screening.

"Residents do not have the personal protective equipment (PPE) to minimise the risks of infection.

"Asking the residents to assemble in large crowds and to queue up for testing exposes them unnecessarily to Covid-19 infection.

"High-risk groups are also better protected with this method," they said.

Dr Hisham during his daily press briefing earlier had said that overcrowding at the Covid-19 screening for residents at Menara City One was due to residents from Block B also coming down to get tested when it was only meant for residents from Block A.