Coronavirus: Malaysia will close Top Glove factories and screen workers; Indonesia hits 500,000 cases
- Top Glove is the world’s largest manufacturer of latex gloves. A total of 28 factories will be closed in stages after 1,889 workers tested positive for the virus
- Meanwhile, Australia reopened the border between Victoria and New South Wales, its two most populous states
A total of 28 factories will be closed in stages after 1,889 Top Glove workers tested positive for the virus, Senior Minister of Security Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
Top Glove is the world’s largest latex-glove maker and has seen record high profits this year as demand for medical gloves and protective gear skyrocketed due to the pandemic.
The race to tackle Covid-19 in Sabah, Malaysia’s biggest palm oil producing state, is being complicated by an estimated 1 million undocumented migrants and stateless residents who account for a third of the population.
Sabah accounts for nearly half of Malaysia’s 54,775 recorded Covid-19 infections and more than half its 335 deaths despite having barely a tenth of the Southeast Asian country’s population. But health officials fear the real picture could be much worse as people evade screenings in fear of detention or deportation.
“We see authorities coming, we do what we’ve always done: run,” said Ahmad Han, an undocumented migrant living on the outskirts of Semporna district in Sabah.