Floods: Three Covid-19 cases detected among victims in Johor, says Dr Zaliha

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SERDANG: Three Covid-19 cases have been detected among flood victims in Johor and have been quarantined in hospitals, says Dr Zaliha Mustafa.

The Health Minister also said that 18 Health Ministry clinics were affected by the floods, including damage to medical equipment.

"There have been three cases of Covid-19 among the flood victims - two cases were detected in Segamat and one case was detected in Kluang. They have been isolated. Screening is continuously being done by our staff on the ground.

"The authorities are also monitoring for possible cases of leptospirosis and dengue as well as other usual diseases which rise during floods," said Dr Zaliha.

She also said that the Health Ministry has mobilised medical staff and facilities from within Johor to areas affected by floods in the state, as access to certain areas have been cut off, making mobilisation from other states difficult.

She was speaking to the media after officiating the Serdang Heart Disease in Pregnancy Symposium 2.0 (SHe-DIPS) at the Serdang Hospital here on Saturday (March 4).

"The flood situation is quite severe in Johor and many temporary evacuation centres have been set up.

"Some of the temporary evacuation centres were not registered with the Welfare Department as the floodwaters rose suddenly, with some areas which were affected have not had floods for the past 17 years.

"We have mobilised teams from nearby areas such as Muar and Tangkak to Chaah and Segamat to assist. However, access has been cut and the teams have had to be on standby.

"Clinic facilities in the state have been affected and we have lost some of the Health Ministry devices.

"As of today, 18 clinic facilities in Johor were affected - 11 in Segamat as well as clinics in Tangkak, Batu Pahat and Kota Tinggi.

"We did send a Health Ministry medical team from Selangor but they have been on standby in Johor Baru as they have not been able to gain access to the flood areas.

"Any state of emergency would be proposed from the state level first. Federal assistance will be provided if the state asks for it. However, many of the government agencies have started to bring in aid from the other states to help the flood victims which are continuously increasing," said Dr Zaliha.

As of yesterday (March 3), the number of flood victims continued to increase with almost 36,0000 people evacuated to about 260 temporary relief centres nationwide.

Johor was the worst-hit state with more than 32,000 victims followed by Pahang (1,844), Negri Sembilan (1,061), Melaka (99) and Sarawak (43).

The Federal Government announced that it will be channeling RM50mil immediate flood assistance to Johor alone.