.jpg "Personnel from the Emergency Response Team screen members of the public at KL Sentral March 20, 2020. u00e2u20acu2022 Picture by Yusof Mat isa")
KUALA LUMPUR, March 26 — All staff of the Teluk Intan Hospital are being tested for Covid-19 following the outbreak that saw 39 of its medical staff infected with the deadly virus, following a complaint by a workers’ union.
Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, in revealing that there was an increase of seven Covid-19 positive cases from the hospital, said that the ministry decided today that all of the hospital’s staff are to be tested in light of the developments.
He said that so far, 80 of the ministry’s doctors have tested positive for coronavirus of which none were infected from handling Covid-19 patients.
“They got it from attending a wedding or other gathering. We have screened 800 others, and none have tested positive,” he said.
Dr Noor Hisham revealed yesterday that a majority of affected officers were infected after attending weddings at Bangi on March 6 and a wedding in Putrajaya on March 7.
The weddings were attended by patients from the tabligh cluster.
“Within the ministry, 1,896 have so far been tested of which 1,187 have come back negative while another 708 are pending,” he said.
Earlier today, Edgenta UEMS Sdn Bhd said seven cleaners who are working at Teluk Intan Hospital have either gone for or are waiting to undergo Covid-19 tests.
In a chart attached by Dr Noor Hisham earlier, many of the Health Ministry’s facilities including clinics and hospitals only recorded one positive case of Covid-19 among their healthcare personnel, while Hospital Teluk Intan was the highest with 39 Covid-19 positive cases recorded.
Selayang Hospital has five cases, Raja Perempuan Zainab Hospital II in Kota Baru has four, Seri Manjung and Tuanku Jaafar Hospital in Seremban has three, while Shah Alam Hospital has two cases.
