Continuing from our piece on the coronavirus impact on food and migrant workers, Pudu wet market became the one of the latest markets to be temporarily cordoned off beginning 15 May to facilitate Covid-19 check ups, while the TTDI market has been partially closed on 19 May as a precautionary measure. These closures followed a spike of 40 new Covid-19 cases on 14 May, 18 of which were from the vicinity of the Pudu market, leading to more than 500 foreign workers at the Pudu market and its surrounding areas undergoing health screenings. It is only recently that a larger portion of cases are from the migrant communities, with Malaysia recording 37 new Covid-19 cases, 22 of which involved foreign workers, on 19 May 2020.
It is important to note that on the cumulative count, the DG has pointed out that half the Covid-19 cases originated from the Sri Petaling Mosque tabligh event. According to a Covid-19 tracker by Malaysiakini, notable clusters include the said tabligh event, the Malaysian students returning from the Al Fatah pesantren (Islamic boarding school) in Indonesia, the KL wholesale market, the Bandar Baru Ibrahim Majid tahlil and wedding event, Sungai Lui, the Good News Fellowship Conference in Kuching, Sarawak, and the Selangor Mansion. Infection cases involving migrant workers appear to be primarily linked to the tabligh event, the KL wholesale market, and the Selangor Mansion.
Nonetheless, Malaysia’s migrant situation, although undeniably worrying, has not reached the severity it has in Singapore, where about 15% of foreign workers live in 43 massive purpose-built dormitories. This presents interesting questions: could it be that Malaysia closed its borders in the nick of time or was it because migrant workers in the country do not live in these purpose-built dormitories? That being said, Malaysia’s recent immigration raids have discouraged many migrants from voluntarily coming forward to get screened for Covid-19 since many now justifiably fear deportation should they choose to do so.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has described the Covid-19 developments at the meat industry as “frightening news”. Source: DW.com/C. Thiel.
On the meat processing front, news from Europe, showing a disturbing mirror image of the meat packing plants in the US: an outbreak of Covid-19 cases in a slaughterhouse in Germany exposed the deplorable working conditions for migrants in the meat industry, where workers were often forced to work long hours and are housed in squalid, crowded quarters. The German Federal Labour Ministry acknowledged that the recent outbreaks in meat processing plants were most likely due to these working conditions and accommodations; Chancellor Angela Merkel further conceded that “there are considerable shortcomings, especially in housing”, stating that it was the responsibility of the local authorities to enforce occupational health and safety standards.
It is worth mentioning again the common theme of migrant workforce, and Khor Reports had analysed Malaysia’s reliance on foreign labour in 2018 based on 2016 data. This time, an update on the analysis based on 2018 data revealed that the number of non-Malaysian citizens has increased from 3.2 million to 3.3 million—more specifically, a 92,700 increase—from 2016 to 2018.
Please include 1-2 line for each news reference:
18 Jun: https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2020/06/17/Norway-squashes-speculation-that-salmon-was-source-of-fresh-Covid-wave-in-China
22 Jun: Beijing is halting chicken imports from where e.g. Tyson foods have workers sick China suspends imports of poultry from US-based Tyson plant. China’s customs authority said on Sunday it had suspended imports of poultry products from a plant owned by US-based meat processor Tyson. The company confirmed a cluster of coronavirus cases at facilities in Arkansas where a total of 481 people tested positive for the virus.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/22/china-suspends-us-poultry-imports-from-covid-19-affected-business
23 Jun: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/22/meat-plant-must-be-held-to-account-covid-19-outbreak-germany
24 Jun: good list of food chain -virus worries here... https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2020/06/23/2003738679
26 Jun: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/25/abattoir-air-cooling-systems-could-pose-covid-19-risks-expert-warns, https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2020/06/26/Can-coronavirus-be-transmitted-via-meat-products, https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2020/06/26/Appalling-conditions-blamed-for-spread-of-COVID-19-in-meat-sector
1 Jul: Jakarta focus on traditional markets and commuter trains to control transmission: The city administration would also deploy military, police and administration officers to supervise the implementation of health protocol at traditional markets and on commuter trains, as those places had become hotbeds of transmission.... Officers would guard every entrance and exit of all 153 city-owned markets and 150 community markets in the capital and limit the number of visitors to 50 percent of the market’s capacity at any given time. In exchange, markets were allowed to return to their regular operating hours....https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/07/01/jakarta-extends-transition-phase-postponing-further-relaxation-by-14-days.html
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-brazil-meat/mass-testing-at-jbs-brf-plants-in-center-west-brazil-town-reveals-more-than-1000-covid-19-cases-idUSKBN24423Q WSJ
6 Jul: U.S. farmworkers are catching the coronavirus. Virus cases are surging in the country's top regions for apple and cherry farming, despite regulations aimed at protecting farmworkers. Farms are now hiring fewer guest pickers and delaying their arrival.
WSJ 6 Jul: Can restaurants survive a second blow? Eateries were devastated by the first round of pandemic lockdowns. As coronavirus cases surge again in the U.S., restaurants in a number of cities are bracing for another slowdown in sales, just as business had begun to pick up.
CDC says US has 'way too much virus'to control pandemic... https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/29/cdc-says-us-has-way-too-much-virus-to-control-pandemic-as-cases-surge-across-country.html
10 Jul: https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3092717/frozen-shrimp-packaging-found-positive-coronavirus-risk-food