By Xavier Kong
THE Bukit Jalil immigration detention centre saw 270 new cases of Covid-19 confirmed among the detainees, with health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah noting that these were follow up samples, where the detainees had been exposed to positive cases before this second round of testing.
There are still 905 pending results from the second round of testing.
“Even though the number of confirmed cases, especially among foreign workers, saw a sharp rise, this is also a result of the good work done by the district health offices out in the field,” said Dr Noor Hisham.
The number of new cases today is 277, of whom two are imported cases, and 271 are migrant workers. The 270 cases from Bukit Jalil are joined by one more worker from a construction site in Pudu. Local transmission among Malaysians stands at just four new ones, with the two imported cases coming from Spain and Egypt.
This takes the total number of confirmed cases in Malaysia past the 8,000 mark to 8,247, of whom 1,573 are active transmission cases. Of these, six are in intensive care units, with two of them requiring ventilator support.
Today, 28 new recoveries were reported, bringing the total number of discharged patients to 6,559. No deaths were reported, so the death toll remains at 115.
Dr Noor Hisham noted that there needs to be a holistic view of the foreign worker issue, with scrutiny required about their accommodation and cleanliness. A committee has already been formed under the National Security Council (NSC) regarding the issue.
A possible source of transmission among the detainees at the immigration detention centres are the foreign workers who were moved there from areas under Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO).
The virus could have been in incubation when they were screened, resulting in a negative result, then becoming positive cases infecting others in the detention centre, said Dr Noor Hisham, who noted that additional factors include the cramped quarters in the detention centres. – June 4, 2020
