PETALING JAYA: The government will deport undocumented migrants who are free of Covid-19 back to their own countries, says Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
The Senior Minister (Security) said the decision was made at a meeting on Tuesday (May 26) morning between the various ministries and departments involved including the Home Ministry.
He said they would get the assistance of the various embassies to deport the undocumented migrants.
“They will undergo screening before they are deported. Only those who are negative will be deported, ” he said during a daily press briefing on the Covid-19 situation on Tuesday.
He also said that anyone linked to the three Immigration detention depots in Bukit Jalil, Semenyih and Sepang would have to undergo a swab test.
There are 227 positive cases from the three detention depots involving undocumented migrants so far, with those from Bangladesh recording the highest number at 53 cases.
The rest are from India (41), Indonesia (38), Myanmar (37), Pakistan (28), China (17), Cambodia (4), Nepal (3), Sri Lanka (2) and one each from the Philippines, Libya, Egypt and Syria.
Ismail Sabri also said that the meeting decided to allocate three places for undocumented migrants detected with the virus – MAEPS, the former leprosy hospital in Sungai Buloh and the former maternity ward in Hospital Kuala Lumpur.
He said that all three places could accommodate up to 1,400 patients.
“Our focus is to send them back to their country of origin, ” he said.
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