179 KD Lekiu crew members screened for Covid-19 after arriving at Sepanggar naval base

The KD Lekiu crew which returned from their South Korea stint, arriving at Sepanggar naval base to undergo Covid-19 screenings as they refuel and replenish supplies at Kota Kinabalu, before the vessel make its way back to the Lumut naval base. -Pix courtesy of Royal Malaysian Navy

KOTA KINABALU: All 179 crew members of the Royal Malaysian Navy’s (RMN) KD Lekiu have been screened for Covid-19 upon arriving at the Sepanggar naval base here on Thursday (March 5).

The Lumut-based vessel had arrived from Busan, South Korea in a mission to escort the Petronas Floating Liquefied Natural Gas 2 tanker back to Sabah waters.

The vessel left Kota Kinabalu on Feb 5 and arrived at Busan on Feb 12.

It left Busan on Feb 18 and the stop here was for refuelling and replenishing of supplies before making its return to the Lumut naval base in Perak..

At the Sepanggar base, 10 medical officers and 70 paramedics from the army, as well as four doctors and 12 paramedics from the Health Ministry, were on hand to handle the crew.

“The 25 officers and 154 crew members were checked based on the guidelines provided by the Health Ministry.

“The first level were questions on Covid-19 symptoms and taking their body temperatures, followed by obtaining ‘oropharynx’ samples from everyone in the group.

“The samples are then to be sent to the district public health laboratory in stages and results of tests are expected to be completed between two and six hours, ” the Sepanggar naval base said in a statement.

It added that those whose tests came out positive would be referred to the infectious diseases experts at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, while those tested negative would be allowed to continue to sail to Lumut.

“Upon arrival at the Lumut base, they will undergo a second screening and be isolated for 14 days, ” added the statement.

RMN in a statement on Wednesday (March 4) said the KD Lekiu crew members would be screened for the virus when the vessel docked at the Sepanggar base.