KUCHING, April 16: Another group of 295 trainees at the Police Training Centre (Pulapol) at Borneo Heights here have been infected with Covid-19.
As such the Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) has been enforced at the centre, beginning today until April 29.
State Police Commissioner Datuk Aidi Ismail pointed out that this was necessary in view of the increasing numbers and the fear that the virus had spread to the community in the area.
“We have now a total number of 415 trainees who are infected, while 20 teaching staff and their family members had also tested positive for the virus.
“I hope with this EMCO, we can curb the spread further and bring the numbers down. We want to end this outbreak here as soon as possible,” he said in a statement today.
Earlier, Aidi had accompanied Deputy Chief Minister and Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas to visit the EMCO Operation Room at the centre today.
Meanwhile, SDMC had on April 13 reported a Covid-19 outbreak at Pulapol at Jalan Puncak Borneo with 61 trainees infected, thus sparking a workplace cluster dubbed the Jalan Puncak Borneo Cluster in Kuching.
The index case was a trainee, who went for symptomatic screening at the Kota Sentosa Health Clinic on April 9 and tested positive for the virus on April 12.
The trainee from Perlis had arrived in Sarawak for the training on Nov 22, 2020.
All the positive cases are currently isolated and treated at the centre which has been turned into a Quarantine and Low-Risk Treatment Centre (PKRC).
The State Health Department has also set up a 24-hour clinic and a Covid-19 Assessment Centre (CAC) there.
The health authority had also conducted active case detection (ACD) operation from April 12 to 14 whereby 633 people had been screened.
The second ACD from April 17 to 19 is expected to involve some 2,000 individuals.
Minister of Housing and Local Government Dato Sri Sim Kui Hian, the camp comandan SAC Razali Mohamad and State Health Department deputy director Dr Rosemawati Ariffin were among those present. — DayakDaily
