MELAKA: The exponential increase of Covid-19 positive cases in Melaka on Thursday (Dec 17) is due to the influx of inmates of two outstation prisons, says Datuk Seri Sulaiman Md Ali.
The Melaka Chief Minister said the record number of 98 cases on a single day was caused by the transfer of prisoners from Kajang and Sungai Buloh prisons since November.
"The high number of cases were registered at the Jasin correctional facility, where the prisoners transferred had their own previous Covid-19 clusters.
"There was no infection within the local communities," he said in a statement to The Star on Friday (Dec 18).
Sulaiman said the influx of outstation prisoners had overcrowded the correctional centre in Jasin.
He noted that there were 880 inmates transferred to the centre at Jasin between Nov 22 and Dec 16.
Sulaiman said up to Dec 16, there were a total of 35 Covid-19 positive inmates who were referred to Melaka Hospital.
"The conditions of all the inmates seeking treatment were stable," he said.
On Dec 17, Sulaiman said there were 98 inmates tested positive, bringing the total to 133 cases.
From the total, he said 110 are locals and 23 are foreigners.
"I would like to stress that the increase of cases was confined to the prison cluster and not within the community," he added.
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