PUTRAJAYA, April 22 — Difficulty in identifying tourists from Wuhan, China as well as issues regarding policy coordination with various parties, including airline companies and airport authorities, are among the challenges faced by the Immigration Department in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Its director-general Datuk Khairul Dzaimee Daud said that, nonetheless, they still managed come up with measures to overcome those issues, including identifying Chinese nationals from the region by referring to their passports.
“The Immigration Department also faced policy coordination issues in our bid for more efficient operation with all stakeholders, whereby any small delay may lead to foreigners being stranded at our airports,” he told Bernama today.
He said airline companies, airport authorities and all stakeholders were finally cooperating with the department in disseminating information regarding the government’s decisions on tackling the pandemic issue.
He said the department also faced the issue of foreigners, for example from Europe, with a history of having visited the Wuhan region in China.
“We suggested that they fill up a form declaring whether they were in the said region or not. If they provide us with false information, they will be sent back and not allowed to visit Malaysia,” he said.
Khairul Dzaimee said the government subsequently imposed travel restrictions on several other regions in Italy and Japan.
Other than that, he said they were also exposed to the risk of Covid-19 infection while attending to foreign tourists.
“Immigration personnel are also exposed to various diseases as a result of the visitor screening procedure, which involved interrogation.
“This interrogation makes it difficult for us to practise social distancing and we also have difficulty obtaining personal protection equipment (PPE),” he said, adding that this increased the risk of infection among Immigration officers on duty at airports.
— Bernama
