Covid-19: Five new cases linked to recent Parliament special sitting

PETALING JAYA: Another five Covid-19 cases linked to the recent Parliament special sitting have been detected, which brings the total number of cases to 102 as of Sunday (Aug 15).

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the five new cases involved five family members, where the index case was an individual who attended the Parliament proceedings from July 26 to 29.

“All of them have completed their two doses of the vaccine. They have mild symptoms and are undergoing quarantine in their respective homes.

“Three cases have a high cycle-threshold value of between 16.98 to 22.76 (which indicates high infectivity rates),” he said in a statement on Sunday (Aug 15).

Dr Noor Hisham added that with the five new cases, there were now 30 cases that could be traced specifically back to individuals who attended the special sitting.

“Out of these 30 cases, two cases involved Members of Parliament, nine cases were aides, nine cases were officials from government agencies, seven cases involving family members, two cases involving contractors and one case involving Parliament staff,” he said.

One of the 30 cases was Datuk Jaimin Samitah who died of Covid-19 on Aug 9.

He was the special officer to Datuk Guandee Kohoi and had accompanied the Deputy Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister during the special Parliament sitting between July 26 and 29.

Besides the 30 cases, there were 56 cases that were detected from the pre-screening process before the Dewan Rakyat and another eight cases from the pre-screening process before the Dewan Negara.

Dr Noor Hisham said stricter measures will be taken for when Parliament reconvenes in September in order to minimise the risk of transmission before and during the proceedings.

He said this included having better ventilation in the premises, disinfecting the premises at least twice a day, and having random Covid-19 screenings during proceedings.