Three Pulapol centres hit by Covid-19 outbreak

 

Police and health officials are working to find out if there is a common cause of Covid-19 outbreaks at police training facilities across three states.

This came after the Bukit Sentosa Police Training Centre (Pulapol) in Rawang, Selangor became the third to detect an infection cluster among its community.

As of yesterday, the Jalan Bukit Sentosa cluster has recorded 14 positive cases from a total of 85 individuals screened.

Its index case was found positive for the coronavirus on Feb 2 through the screening of symptomatic individuals and the infection has spread among officers and other close contacts at the Pulapol.

Last month, the first police training centre to see a Covid-19 outbreak was the main one in Jalan Sultan Yahya Petra, Kuala Lumpur, otherwise known as Pulapol KL.

The Jalan Yahya cluster there was first announced by the Health Ministry on Jan 27. It involved students and teachers, with the index case found positive a day earlier.

Two days later on Jan 29, the Health Ministry announced the discovery of another cluster at a training centre in Segamat, Johor, following a targeted screening exercise at the facility located along Jalan By Pass there.

As of yesterday, the Jalan Yahya cluster has recorded 465 positive cases of which 358 have since recovered. The Jalan By Pass cluster has seen 189 positive cases so far, of which 21 have recovered.

Malaysiakini has contacted Bukit Aman Management Department director Ramli Din, who confirmed that the three centres were facing Covid-19 outbreaks. 

He also confirmed the link of the individual clusters to each of the Pulapol.

When asked about the outbreaks occurring at around the same time, and if they could have been caused by the movement of personnel between the three facilities, Ramli said they were investigating if there is a common cause.

"We are checking. There is a possibility. But we are not sure yet," he told Malaysiakini. 

According to the police commissioner, they were working closely with the Health Ministry to address the outbreaks.

This includes taking necessary measures such as isolating positive cases and regular disinfection according to Health Ministry guidelines.

All of the training centres were also off-limits to visitors at this juncture, to prevent further spread of the virus. - Mkini