The house-to-house exercise using Antigen Rapid Test Kits (RTK-Ag) involves some 5,000 people.
Labuan disaster management committee chairman Rithuan Ismail said it was part of the committee’s efforts to prevent Covid-19 from spreading to the local community.
“The active case detection is to cover all the people in the settlement of all ages and nationalities. Not a single family member must skip the test … and they will be given wristbands immediately, which will only be removed once they test negative the next day,” he said at the settlement today.
He said the Kiamsam refugee settlement was one of the areas on the island which recorded the most cases of Covid-19 with fatalities.
Meanwhile, Labuan health department director Dr Ismuni Bohari said the refugee settlement was a squalid and cramped squatter area which posed a health risk to the people, and thus the mass ACD exercise was crucial.
“This overcrowded squatter settlement lacks sanitation. With people living in miserable conditions, and with many of them crammed into very small living spaces, they are certainly vulnerable to the virus and it can lead to an outbreak,” he said.
Ismuni said the ACD exercise was also in preparation for the opening of the economic sectors in the duty-free island, as most people in the settlement worked in the town centre.
“We have 10 teams conducting the tests, the first mass ACD exercise in this settlement.
“If we cannot complete the ACD exercise today, we will continue tomorrow.
“Those testing negative will be vaccinated,” he said.
National Security Council (MKN) Labuan director Mohd Hafiez Daud said the 5,000 people being tested live in 733 houses in the refugee settlement. Most of the residents hold IMM13 and Burung-Burung passes which are issued to Filipino refugees.
“This exercise is being conducted on the spot without informing the residents earlier, and the turnout is overwhelming.
“The decision to conduct this operation was made within 24 hours of getting consent from the federal government.
“A total of 110 personnel from the police, MKN Labuan and healthcare personnel are involved in the operation,” he said.
Labuan police chief Ahmad Jawila said the police contingent was fully prepared for the operation with a roadblock mounted at the entry point to the settlement and at sea by a marine police team.
Meanwhile, in Penang, a group of volunteers called “Krew Perihatin Vaksin” has been going around villages in Balik Pulau to ensure that the elderly get vaccinated against Covid-19.
The initiative was taken after finding that out of the 91% of Balik Pulau’s residents who had registered for vaccination, only about 8% had turned up for their appointments at the Balik Pulau Sports Complex.
Teluk Bahang assemblyman Zolkifly Md Lazim said Bersatu, which set up the voluntary group comprising 35 individuals, had worked with local companies to assist those aged 60 and above register for vaccination and take them to the PPV for their injection.
“We went into the villages to assist those who had not registered and the next day, we took them to the PPV using our own vehicles. We also did the same for those who had registered but did not have transport to get to the PPV,” he said.
Zolkifly said the PPV had the capacity to administer 800 doses of the vaccine per day but only about 400 turned up for their vaccination appointment.
“However, after the direct vaccination registration programme was carried out, the PPV in Balik Pulau managed to administer about 700 doses of the vaccine per day,” he added.
He also said that beginning tomorrow, the volunteers and staff of the health ministry would also administer the vaccine from house to house for invalid or ill villagers who were unable to go to the PPV for their vaccination appointment.
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