PETALING JAYA: A large crowd of people seen in a viral video queueing up without observing social distancing in front of a hotel in Kuala Lumpur supposedly to get their Covid-19 vaccination were actually there for a welfare programme, says the government.
The Health Ministry said that the crowd was not there for a vaccination programme but a Bantuan Prihatin programme under the Yayasan Wilayah Persekutuan managing the Rumah Prihatin.
The International Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti) and the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry (Mosti) also said that as such, they were not the ones in charge of managing the queues of the crowd outside the hotel on Wednesday (Aug 11) morning.
Checks with Miti and Mosti showed that there was no vaccination programme for foreign workers at the venue and that the crowd had come for the assistance provided at Rumah Prihatin.
"It has nothing to do with Miti," said a Miti official when contacted.
"This is under the Federal Territories Ministry for the Bantuan Prihatin programme, not Mosti," said another official from Mosti.
Earlier on Wednesday, a video of a large crowd of people seen queueing up back-to-back in a crushing line at the newly opened Rumah Prihatin at the hotel in Kuala Lumpur had gone viral and received more than 1.2 million views.
(Rumah Prihatin is a one-off shelter programme for the underprivileged in the city under the management of the Federal Territories Ministry)
In the video, a motorist is seen chiding the police on duty and the authorities for allowing such a mad rush during the pandemic.
The policemen on cars and bikes were seen at the scene but merely controlling the traffic, while the crowd lined up front to back without adhering to COvid-19 SOP.
