Penang CM: Higher number of Covid-19 cases due to ongoing testing of foreign workers

Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow

GEORGE TOWN: The higher number of Covid-19 cases reported in Penang is due to the ongoing testing of foreign workers.

Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the screening of workers from the construction and manufacturing sectors was the reason Penang reported 226 new cases on Friday (Jan 1).

According to the state Health Department, he said, 185 of the 226 cases were from nine active clusters in Penang, including 110 from the new Rawa Akasia cluster.

"The Health Department had increased screening of foreign workers under the Socso screening programme, which led to a higher number of cases reported," said Chow in a statement on Saturday (Jan 2).

He urged Penangites to continuously adhere to standard operating procedures under the recovery movement control order.

Chow said a total of 135,490 workers in the state who are registered with Socso would undergo screening at their workplace.

"It is our collective responsibility to break the chain of infection and we will win this fight," said Chow.