By Adrian Lim
KUCHING, March 26: About 55 per cent of those who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) in the country attended the tabligh gathering in Sri Petaling.
This was revealed by Ministry of Health (MoH) director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah during a press conference today.
“MoH has performed Covid-19 fever triage test for 13,762 people from the tabligh gathering.
“There are 1,117 positive cases from the tabligh gathering (out of total 2,031 positive cases) which represented about 55 per cent,” Dr Noor Hisham disclosed when questioned by reporters.
At the same time, he revealed that MoH has performed the Covid-19 fever triage tests for other groups such as close contacts to the tabligh gathering participants and other clusters.
He added, the results of some 9,327 samples were positive, 5,646 cases tested negative and there are still 2,564 cases pending results.
MoH has also conducted surveillance for its frontliners who are treating Covid-19.
Dr Noor Hisham disclosed that some 1,895 frontliners working in public hospitals have undergone Covid-19 fever triage tests.
The results for 1,187 staff were negative while the ministry is still waiting for the results of the remaining 708 staff.
“We hope to receive the results of those pending cases the latest by today,” he told reporters.
Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham also revealed there were 80 staff from MoH who tested positive for Covid-19, adding that 39 of them were from the Teluk Intan Hospital cluster.
He explained that their cause of infection was not from their work related to treating Covid-19 patients but from public gatherings attended.
On another note, Dr Noor Hisham revealed that MoH is in the process of seeking the services of retired nurses to assist public hospitals in dealing with Covid-19 cases throughout the country.
Some 3,000 retired nurses have registered with MoH, as well as an additional 3,500 medical personnel out of which 2,400 are trained nurses.
In the meantime, Dr Noor Hisham pointed out that MoH only conducts the fever triage test on those who have close contact with Covid-19 patients although they do not exhibit symptoms. — DayakDaily
