Malaysia’s indigenous inhabitants ‘flee into forests’
Indigenous people in Malaysia are fleeing into the country’s forests to avoid the coronavirus outbreak, Reuters news agency reports.
It comes after the first indigenous Orang Asli person was confirmed to have the virus last week.
In the central village of Jemeri, the entrance has already been barricaded with logs.
Resident and activist Bedul Chemai said: “We are going back into the forest to isolate ourselves and to find food for ourselves. We know how to get food from the forests and there are things we can plant there.”
Orang Asli are descendants of the earliest known inhabitants of peninsular Malaysia and are said to be among the poorest in the country.
Poverty and malnutrition makes them vulnerable to disease. Last year 15 people in one village died from measles.
Malaysia has 3,333 confirmed cases of the virus, the highest in Southeast Asia and 53 deaths.
Reuters
