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SINGAPORE – Top Glove, the world’s largest manufacturer of medical gloves, has closed 20 manufacturing sites in Malaysia after thousands of workers tested positive for Covid-19.
A total of 2,684 Top Glove employees – mostly foreign workers – tested positive on Wednesday, local media reported, citing Malaysian senior security minister and defense minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
It is by far the largest cluster new infections in the Southeast Asian country, where a surge in cases has forced the government to reimpose a new round of partial lockdown measures, according to data from Malaysia’s health ministry.
Authorities nationwide are testing all Top Glove workers in affected factories and dormitories for the coronavirus. International Trade and Industry Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali told CNBC on Thursday that the government hopes “to alleviate this problem within the next two weeks.”
“It is very unfortunate that recently there have been problems in terms of positive cases being recorded in factories,” he told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia”.
Azmin pointed out that Top Glove was one of the companies allowed to continue full operations throughout Malaysia’s lockdown, given its importance to local and global markets.
The company has seen increased demand for its products due to the pandemic. This contributed to a surge in the price of its shares.
Top Glove shares listed in Malaysia and Singapore fell on announcements of plant closures, but they are still up more than 300% so far this year in both markets, according to data from Refinitiv.
Top Glove said in a statement on Wednesday that some 5,700 of its workers had been tested for the virus, and screening for the remaining employees could be completed by the end of this week.
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