KUALA LUMPUR, March 31 — All 107 athletes, coaches and National Sports Council (NSC) officials have tested negative for Covid-19.
The number includes close contacts and secondary contacts of the national hammer thrower Jackie Wong, who has been confirmed positive for the virus and was currently being treated in Sibu Hospital, as well as several athletes returning from overseas after participating in tournaments or undergoing training programmes.
NSC director-general Datuk Ahmad Shapawi Ismail confirmed the good news in his statement today.
“As of March 30, out of 107 who were under quarantine, 86 underwent health checks at the district health offices or private facilities and the results came back negative.
“The remaining 21 individuals who were not required to undergo health checks have been released from home quarantine after they did not show any symptoms at the end of the 14-day process,” he said.
On Jackie’s health status, Ahmad Shapawi said the third test result of the 2019 SEA Games silver medalist taken last Saturday had also come back negative.
“However, he still has to undergo the final test to determine that he is free from the infection, and currently he is healthy,” said Ahmad Shapawi.
Meanwhile, Ahmad Shapawi said NSC and the National Sports Institute (NSI) through the Covid-19 Action Committee had taken several immediate actions.
He said for precautionary measure, NSC and NSI had carried out disinfection operations twice, on March 17 and 24 respectively, in areas where Jackie had visited, followed by another disinfection process involving the entire complex of NSC, NSI and Sports Commissioner’s Office on March 25.
“We hope there is no more infection among our athletes, coaches and sports officials, and they are advised to undergo for immediate health check should they have symptoms.
“Athletes must continue to train by themselves based on training programmes provided by their coaches and all are asked to follow instructions given by the authorities during the enforcement of the movement control order,” he said. — Bernama
