He said this after a few photographs showing workers wearing pink wristbands doing work in a construction site went viral.

In a Facebook post, he said 264 out of 273 of the workers went through community screenings at the construction site and were given the pink wristbands to indicate that they were foreigners.

“This was done to prevent them from leaving the construction area,” he said.

He added that they were all living in the shared workers’ quarters nearby.

“The developers have been told to ensure that all of those screened stayed within the construction area,” he said, adding that there were security guards and police stationed to conduct surveillance.

Noor Hisham added that the developers had also temporarily ceased operations to make way for disinfection work from Nov 13 until Nov 15, until the test results from the community screenings were made available on Nov 15.

Following that, health officials had given a release order for the workers and cut their wristbands at the construction site.

Noor Hisham said based on the test results, only one worker was found positive. He did not live on-site.

Eight close contacts were identified, and all have been isolated from Nov 7 until Nov 20.

“All other workers tested negative and have been given their release order on Nov 15, except for the eight close contacts who are still undergoing quarantine.”