Menteri Pertahanan Ismail Sabri Yaakob berkata, Putrajaya juga mengucapkan terima kasih kepada kerajaan negeri yang tampil membantu dengan memberi sumbangan kepada pelajar negeri masing-masing.
PUTRAJAYA: Kerajaan akan menanggung sepenuhnya kos makanan kira-kira 60,000 pelajar institusi pengajian tinggi yang tinggal di kolej susulan perintah kawalan pergerakan bagi membendung penularan kes Covid-19.
Menteri Kanan (Kluster Keselamatan) Ismail Sabri Yaakob berkata, jumlah peruntukan bagi bantuan tersebut akan diumumkan selepas pengiraan kos dibuat oleh Agensi Pengurusan Bencana Negara (Nadma).
“Ramai pelajar yang tidak pulang dan tinggal di kolej masing-masing mempunyai isu tidak mampu membeli makanan dan sebagainya.
“Mesyuarat tadi membuat keputusan kerajaan akan menanggung sepenuhnya makanan untuk kesemua pelajar yang berada di kolej,” katanya yang juga menteri pertahanan pada sidang media selepas mesyuarat Jawatankuasa Khas Menteri mengenai perintah kawalan pergerakan di sini, hari ini.
Jelasnya, kerajaan juga berterima kasih atas keprihatinan beberapa kerajaan negeri yang tampil membantu dengan memberi sumbangan kepada pelajar negeri mereka.
“Jadi selain bantuan kerajaan negeri, kerajaan persekutuan melalui Nadma akan memberi sumbangan dan bantuan kepada para pelajar terbabit,” katanya.
Pada masa yang masa, beliau juga memaklumkan cuti sekolah akan diteruskan hingga 31 Mac dan ibu bapa juga tidak perlu datang ke pejabat kerana turut ditutup sehingga tempoh tersebut.
“Jadi arahan kita adalah ibu bapa yang anak mereka juga bercuti terus tinggal di rumah, di kampung masing-masing.
“Begitu juga pada mereka yang telah pulang ke kampung. Walaupun kita tak benarkan balik, tetapi ramai dah balik perlu tinggal di rumah, di kampung masing-masing dan tidak perlu pulang ke Kuala Lumpur,” katanya.
Tents cover a hillock at a refugee camp for Rohingya Muslims who crossed over from Myanmar into Bangladesh. (AP pic)
BANGKOK: Hundreds of thousands of refugees living in precarious conditions across Asia are particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus outbreak, with border closures raising the risk of their forced repatriation, human rights groups said on Friday.
The outbreak, termed Covid-19, has infected more than 234,000 people worldwide and killed nearly 10,000, according to a Reuters tally.
Refugees and stateless people in camps are among the hardest hit as they are confined to restricted spaces with few amenities and limited access to healthcare, said Themba Lewis, secretary-general of the charity Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network (APRRN).
“If you are a refugee facing the Covid-19 outbreak, you cannot advocate for your own needs. You do not have influence over decisions being made about your access to healthcare, tests, or even basic information,” he said.
“These populations are particularly precariously placed,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Aid agencies are particularly concerned about large, crowded camps including Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, home to about 700,000 Rohingya Muslims who fled Myanmar in 2017.
Along the Thai-Myanmar border, about 31,000 refugees from Myanmar live in nine camps, while nearly 60,000 Sri Lankan Tamils are in camps in southern India. More than 2 million Afghans live in camps in Iran and Pakistan.
To date, there are no confirmed cases of infection among refugees and asylum seekers in South Asia and Southeast Asia, according to UNHCR, the main United Nations refugee agency.
“We are collaborating with partners and national authorities to ensure that these populations are included in all preparedness and response planning,” a spokeswoman at UNHCR’s regional office in Bangkok said.
Fears of contracting the virus in Iran, one of the worst-hit countries, has led to a record number of Afghan returnees in recent weeks, a daily average of more than 9,000, according to the International Organization of Migration (IOM).
The mass returns are sparking fears of increased transmission rates in Afghanistan, where inadequate housing adds to their vulnerability.
At Cox’s Bazar, medics are setting up isolation units in hospitals and teaching children about hygiene.
In camps along the Thai-Myanmar border, aid agencies are working with Thai authorities to communicate with refugees and strengthen prevention and control measures, said Darren Hertz, head of the International Rescue Committee charity in Thailand.
“The Thai government’s response to this outbreak has been quick, very thorough and risk-appropriate,” he said.
But as more countries close their borders to limit the outbreak, refugees face extensive delays, and risk being stranded or separated from family members, according to IOM.
IOM and UNHCR said this week they were temporarily suspending resettlement travel. Some countries have also placed a hold on resettlement arrivals.
The border closures and other restrictions threaten the right of refugees to seek protection, said APRRN’s Lewis.
“We have a moral responsibility, and in some cases a legal obligation, to ensure refugees are protected,” he said.
“Yet we will likely see an increase in restrictions on camps – including restriction of movement. Coupled with xenophobia, that could lead to pushbacks as refugees flee further,” he added.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba speaks during a press conference in Putrajaya March 19, 2020. ― Picture by Choo Choy May
PUTRAJAYA, March 19 — The Health Ministry said today it detected 110 new confirmed cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19), bringing the country’s total to 900.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba also said 63 out of the 110 new cases were linked to the tabligh gathering at Kuala Lumpur’s Jamek Sri Petaling Mosque, which ran from February 27 to March 1.
“The ministry would like to inform that 15 cases have been declared free of Covid-19 and discharged today. This brings to a total of 75 cases that have since fully recovered.
“Presently, 20 positive cases are being treated at Intensive Care Units and require respiratory support,” he said in a press conference at the ministry here.
Of the 900 cases accumulated as of today, 576 have been linked to the tabligh gathering to make it the biggest single Covid-19 cluster to date.
There were no new Covid-19-related deaths reported today, leaving Malaysia’s fatalities from the death at two.
Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob says talks are underway to resolve the problem of some 300,000 Malaysian workers in Singapore who are affected by the Movement Control Order. — Bernama pic
PUTRAJAYA, March 19 ― Malaysia and Singapore are in discussions to resolve the problem of some 300,000 Malaysian workers in Singapore who are affected by Malaysia’s Movement Control Order (MCO) because they commute to the island republic daily for work.
Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the idea was proposed by Malaysia on the condition that Singapore provides accommodation for the affected workers.
“We (both countries) have already been in contact and are discussing. Our Prime Minister has spoken to the Prime Minister of Singapore, and I have also spoken to Singapore’s Defence Minister, as well as several other senior ministers.
“So this is already being discussed…InsyaAllah we will make an announcement soon regarding our workers employed in Singapore,” said Ismail Sabri, who is also Minister of Defence, at a press conference after chairing a meeting of the Special Ministerial Committee on the MCO here today.
Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin on March 16 announced that Malaysia would be imposing a nationwide MCO from March 18 to 31 to curb the spread of COVID-19.
The order, among others, restricts movements of people and bars Malaysians from leaving the country. ― Bernama
ELECTRICITY will not be cut to customers who have defaulted on payments during the movement control order, said Energy and Natural Resources Minister Shamsul Anuar Nasarah.
“I would like to announce that Tenaga Nasional Berhad and Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd will not be terminating power supply for consumers who are late in paying their bills for the period of the movement restriction period,” he said in a statement.
AUSTRALIA and New Zealand today moved to seal off their borders, announcing unprecedented bans on entry for non-residents in the hope of stemming the rise in Covid-19 infections.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the ban on anyone who is not a citizen or permanent resident coming to Australia “will be in place from 9pm tomorrow”.
A man with a mask walks past a countdown clock for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. (AP pic)
TOKYO: The Japanese doctor who created a media firestorm with videos criticising the quarantine of a coronavirus-stricken cruise ship said he now believes the Tokyo 2020 Olympics should not go on.
Kentaro Iwata, a professor of infectious disease at Kobe University, said on his blog on Thursday that it’s not clear that the outbreak in Japan will have subsided by the planned start of the Games in July.
Also, the flood of foreign visitors could exacerbate the spread of the disease, known as Covid-19.
Japanese government officials have said the Olympics will go ahead as scheduled and will not be held behind closed doors.
“The Olympics are not just a mass gathering, but a mass gathering from all over the world, while Covid-19 is a global pandemic,” Iwata wrote. “These two things don’t go together.”
Iwata boarded the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship in February and his YouTube videos decrying the conditions there garnered more than a million views.
Iwata said that bureaucrats, and not infectious disease professionals, were running the quarantine, and that basic protocols on zoning and the use of protective gear were not followed.
Japan has recorded more than 1,600 cases of the virus, including about 700 from the Diamond Princess. Thirty-nine people have died, including seven from the liner.
The virus has spread around the world, with more than 218,000 confirmed cases and 8,900 deaths.
Pakatan Harapan leaders have proposed measures to help Malaysian businesses and citizens through the Covid-19 crisis.
PETALING JAYA: Pakatan Harapan has proposed measures to help Malaysian businesses and employees endure the crisis sparked by the Covid-19 outbreak, including a three-month moratorium on bank loan repayments.
In a statement, the coalition’s leaders said such a move would help safeguard employees and businesses who took loans.
The huge profits made by banks, they said, would allow them to cushion their losses.
“This is the role banks can play to ensure business and employment continuity to prevent a systematic collapse,” they said.
The statement was signed by PKR president Anwar Ibrahim, Amanah president Mohamad Sabu and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng.
The PH leaders also called for additional incentives and facilities to be provided to civil servants on the frontline who, they said, were risking their lives to protect the people from the pandemic.
They urged the government to increase spending to help small-medium entrepreneurs across all sectors, especially those in the tourism and sundry businesses.
“A three-month exemption from tax and licensing fees should be given,” the statement said.
They also said Bank Negara Malaysia should allocate funds for interest-free loans to help the different sectors.
Yesterday, the government said a total of 790 people had tested positive for the virus so far.
Worldwide, the Covid-19 pandemic has led to over 8,000 deaths and close to 200,000 cases of infection.
Putrajaya has since imposed a movement control order to curb the spread of the virus, which is in effect from yesterday until March 31.
CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST DATA ON THE COVID-19 SITUATION IN MALAYSIA
MORE than six million children in the largest US state of California are unlikely to return to school this academic year, said Governor Gavin Newsom yesterday, urging families to expect a prolonged lockdown over the coronavirus pandemic.
Currently, 98.8% of schools in the west coast state are shut in a bid to slow the spread of Covid-19, with the remaining institutions in smaller rural districts expected to follow suit.
