Kuala Lumpur, 16 March 2020 - Sime Darby Plantation Berhad (SDP) wishes to confirm that one of our employees based at Sime Darby Oils refinery in Port Klang has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus yesterday, 15 March 2020, and is currently receiving medical attention at a Government Hospital. The employee, who is an office-worker (not involved in our production line), was an attendee at the religious gathering (Ijtima’) held at Masjid Sri Petaling in Kuala Lumpur between 27 February and 1 March 2020.

SDP has immediately informed and advised the employee’s direct family members and persons we believe to have come in close contact with the said employee in the past 14 days to undergo tests for COVID-19. They have been advised to observe home quarantine pending outcome of the said test.

We have conducted a thorough sanitisation of the affected floors in the office building and other common facilities at the refinery, in accordance with safety and health guidelines. We assure that the potential risk areas at the refinery do not include our production line. All our refineries are running on a closed system with no practical chances of contamination from foreign external substances. Nevertheless, we are taking all necessary precautions to ensure the safety of our production line from any contamination risk. Our production operations at the refinery will continue as usual.

SDP wishes to reaffirm that the health and wellbeing of our employees and guests are our utmost priority, and we will continue to be vigilant in our effort to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, SDP has implemented a number of preventive measures across our operations to help contain the spread of the virus and ensure the wellbeing of our employees and guests. These measures are as follows:

1. Employees who have attended any gathering involving 50 or more people are required to make a declaration to their respective superiors.
2. SDP has imposed travel ban for business purposes to cover all seriously infected countries under WHO list.
3. All forms of communication for meetings and discussions such as the use of digital platforms (e.g. conference calls, business Skype etc.) are to be exhausted prior to considering any business travel. Essential overseas business travel by employees based in Malaysia needs to be approved by the Group Managing Director (GMD) and for non-Malaysian entities, approvals will be managed by the respective Country or Business Units Heads. A 14-days home quarantine must be observed upon employees return.
4. SDP strongly discourages overseas travel on personal basis by employees/their families for the time being. Employees are required to declare their international travels (intended or completed) whether it is for business or personal reasons to the Company by completing a self-declaration form.
5. SDP has limited the physical access to our operations via identified entry points. Temperature checks are conducted on both guests and employees on a daily basis before access to our premised is granted. Hand-sanitisers are made accessible to all our guests and employees.
6. All SDP’s guests/visitors are required to fill up a self-declaration form. All guests/visitors who have visited high-risk countries will only be allowed access into our premises with prior approval from the Company.

We will continue to undertake these necessary measures as long as they are required as the safety of our staff and members of the public are of paramount importance to us.