Covid-19: Over 300 mosque and surau committee members screened in JB, six test positive

JOHOR BARU: The Johor Health Department has carried out Covid-19 screenings on more than 300 mosque and surau committee members here, and found six positive cases.

State Health and Environment Committee chairman R. Vidyananthan said there has been a rise in Covid-19 cases being reported in the community due to social and religious activities not following standard operating procedures (SOP).

“The Health Department has taken proactive measures by carrying out surveillance on mosque and surau committee members in Johor, beginning within the Johor Baru district on Saturday (May 22).

“The surveillance was carried out at Masjid At-Taqwa in Taman Kota Masai and Masjid Tan Sri Ainuddin Wahid in Taman Universiti involving 75 health workers, ” he said here on Monday (May 24).

Vidyananthan said from the surveillance, a total of 323 individuals were tested and six Covid-19 cases were recorded, with 233 testing negative while 84 are still waiting for their results.

He added that contact tracing is now being carried out for the positive cases.

Vidyananthan also said that as of Monday, there were 82 active clusters in Johor with community clusters contributing to 42%.

“From the figure, 27 clusters are from industries, 35 from the community, 15 institutes, four detainee clusters and one from a supermarket.

“Johor also recorded five new clusters on Sunday (May 23) including three community clusters in Pontian, Tangkak and Kluang and two industry clusters, both in Muar, ” he added.