PUTRAJAYA: The Ministry of Health (MOH) will carry out the Covid-19 screenings on more than 800 inmates and 700 employees from the Sungai Buloh Prison, after a non-citizen prisoner tested positive for Covid-19, according to Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
He said the inmate has been detained in the Sungai Buloh prison since 2016 and was released on March 13, but was later arrested by the police and sent to the same jail, and was in the process of being deported to his country of origin through the Semenyih Immigration detention centre.
While undergoing screening in the prison, the inmate tested positive for Covid-19.
“The Gombak district health office (PKD) will carry out screening on the inmate’s close contacts as well as prison staff.
“Hence, this is our process in the event of any individual tested positive with Covid-19, that we will immediately carry out contact tracing to detect those who have been exposed to the prisoner,” he told a daily press conference, here today.
The inmate currently being treated at the Covid-19 Low-Risk Patient Quarantine and Treatment Centre at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang (MAEPS).
Commenting on the tahfiz student in Batu Gajah, Perak who tested positive for Covid-19, Dr Noor Hisham said 41 people, including immediate family members and close contacts, had been screened and undergoing a 14-day quarantine at a public institution in Sungkai.
“All of them tested negative and now undergoing quarantine, while the tahfiz student is currently hospitalised and also quarantined for 14 days,” he said. - Bernama
