KUALA LUMPUR: A total 11 positive Covid-19 cases were detected in Parliament following the mass screening yesterday.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said 10 positive cases were detected via Rapid Test Kit-Antigen (RTK-Ag), saliva test kits and one from the Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) test.
“Following the new cases, the Health Ministry will conduct an investigation, risk evaluation, close contact tracing, as well as implement preventive and control measures, including disinfection in the Parliament building.
“All those attending the Parliament sitting next week are advised to undergo a Covid-19 screening test prior.
“Those with symptoms should go for a check-up and avoid attending the sitting. The Health Ministry will inform the latest development from the screening test and close contact tracing,” he said in a statement today.
Dr Noor Hisham said teams from the Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya Health Departments and the National Public Health Laboratory (MKAK) were mobilised to conduct screening in Parliament yesterday which ended at 8pm.
He said two Covid-19 cases attending the Dewan Rakyat sitting were reported to the Health Ministry around noon.
“The first case was a staff who entered Parliament from July 26 to 28 and found positive on Thursday via a RT-PCR test at a health facility after displaying cough and flu symptoms.
“The second case was detected during the mass screening in Parliament yesterday using a RTK Antigen (Ag) saliva self-test kit as the person displayed cough symptoms.
“Further investigations found both cases were not related to any reported previous positive cases involving Parliament staff detected three days before the special sitting began.
Dr Noor Hisham said both individuals were found negative during the screening before performing their duties at the August house.
“The risk evaluation was made based on the movement history of the cases which found they were in various locations in Parliament during the special sitting.
“Following that, the ministry advised all those who attended the sitting starting July 26 to undergo a screening test,” he said.
Yesterday, Deputy Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Mohd Rashid Hasnon postponed the sitting after receiving news of the Covid-19 cases.
The discovery of the new cases also required all MPs, Parliament staff and members of the media at the August House to undergo a screening test.
The parliament special sitting was adjourned yesterday following the discovery of the cases, hours after an uproar due to a ‘surprise’ statement by Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah.
The King had expressed disappointment over a statement made in the Dewan Rakyat by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law Affairs) Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan on Monday on the revocation of emergency ordinances.
Source: New Straits Times
