UG Healthcare to test Malaysian workers for Covid-19

GLOVE-MAKER UG Healthcare will carry out Covid-19 testing on its employees in its upstream manufacturing operations in Malaysia, the Catalist-listed firm announced in a Tuesday bourse filing after trading hours.

The announcement follows recent revelations that thousands of employees of the Malaysian glovemaker Top Glove had tested positive for Covid-19, leading the Malaysian government to open an investigation into some units over workers' dormitory conditions.

Lee Jun Yih, executive director and finance director of UG Healthcare, said: "We will be conducting Covid-19 testing on our employees as a precautionary measure to safeguard their health. The Covid-19 testing will have minimal disruption to our manufacturing operations as we continue to strive to ensure all our customers receive their required inventory of gloves."

The firm does not expect this to have any material impact to its current financial year performance ending June 2021. Shares of UG Healthcare closed at S$0.68 on Tuesday, down 1.45 per cent.