Covid-19: Two staff among latest cases in detention depot cluster

CORONAVIRUS | Two staff at the Bukit Jalil Immigration Depot are among the latest 11 locally transmitted Covid-19 cases detected over the past 24 hours until noon today, according to Health Ministry data.

In all, the ministry reported 14 new cases, three of which were imported (comprising two Malaysians and a permanent resident) and 11 transmitted locally (comprising seven non-citizens and four Malaysians).

This brings the total number of recorded Covid-19 cases in the country to date to 8,529 cases, with just 408 active cases. 

Meanwhile, with 127 full recoveries today, the total number of recoveries have been logged at 8,000 cases, or 93.8 percent.

No new fatalities were recorded so the death toll remains at 121.

On the immigration depot cluster, Health Director-General Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah (below) said that as of noon today, samples have been taken from a total of 13,149 people for testing.

From the samples, 782 cases were found to be positive for Covid-19 including seven Malaysians, 11,564 were negative and the results of a further 803 were pending.

This is part of a targeted approach taken for detainees, identified as a high-risk group for infection, and detention centre staff, he said.

“(As part of this approach) all new detainees, detainees being transferred to other detention centres and all those about to be deported to their country of origin as well as all detention centre staff must have their samples taken,” Noor Hisham said in a statement today.

He added that the state and district health departments would also be conducting random sampling for risk assessment.

Yesterday, Noor Hisham revealed that a four-year-old Myanmar boy and his mother who were previously detained at the Bukit Jalil immigration depot tested positive for Covid-19.

The boy is believed to be the first child in detention to test positive for the virus.

Meanwhile, the remaining two locally transmitted cases today are from Sarawak. One involved a patient from Sarawak General Hospital in Kuching who was diagnosed upon undergoing a pre-operation test, and another was tested before travelling aboard.

The seven local cases involving non-citizens comprise two from Kuala Lumpur, Selangor (one), Sarawak (two), Sabah (one) and Perak (one).