Health DG: No Covid-19 outbreak during current Parliament sitting, 56 cases were detected earlier

Dewan Rakyat. -Bernamapic

PUTRAJAYA: No Covid-19 outbreak has been detected during the current special Parliament sitting, says the Health Ministry.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the 56 positive cases found among MPs and officers were detected from screenings held before the start of the sitting.

“All individuals invited to attend this Parliament session had to undergo Covid-19 screening between July 21 and 25, either at the Parliament House complex, Putrajaya health centre or other government and private health facilities.

“During that period, a total of 2,093 individuals underwent Covid-19 screening.

“As of July 28, 56 positive cases have been detected involving two MPs, six MP aides and 48 officers from various government agencies.

“The positivity rate is 2.7%. Of the 56 positive cases, 39 (69.6%) are unvaccinated or have not completed their vaccination doses.

“Based on investigations and risk assessments carried out by the ministry, these positive cases have no epidemiological link to each other,” he said in a statement on Thursday (July 29).

Dr Noor Hisham said all the 56 individuals were not allowed to attend this Parliament sitting as they are under isolation and receiving treatment.

Through contact tracing, the ministry also detected four more positive cases.

“All four close contacts have not attended the sitting since the first day and they are under the ministry’s care," he added.

Dr Noor Hisham also said the ministry had proposed on July 26 that this special Parliament sitting be held for a shorter period because of the pandemic.

“This was to prevent an outbreak during the sitting and was proposed during a special meeting on the coordination of Dewan Rakyat at 8am on July 26,” he added.

Dr Noor Hisham said 104 individuals who attended Parliament had taken RTK-Ag self tests provided on-site, and all had tested negative.

“Based on a risk assessment conducted by the Health team in Parliament, no Covid-19 outbreaks have been detected.

“However, monitoring and risk assessment will continue until the end of this sitting,” he said.