Ten days needed to screen residents at two KL buildings under lockdown

CORONAVIRUS | The Health Ministry said it will need up to 10 days to screen residents at the Selangor Mansion and Malayan Mansion as well as to decontaminate the buildings in Masjid India, Kuala Lumpur, which were today put under an enhanced movement control order (MCO).

This means the operation at the two buildings could extend beyond the MCO if it ends on April 14 as planned.

"We are doing active case detection and screening. We hope by doing so (enhanced MCO), we give ourselves about 10 days to clean up the area.

"We hope we can also decontaminate and sanitise. In 10 days, we will try to increase our active case detection there," Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah told a press conference in Putrajaya today.

Selangor Mansion and Malayan Mansion were today placed under enhanced MCO where some 6,000 residents would not be allowed to leave the complex and will be guarded by police and army personnel.

This is after a spike in Covid-19 cases where 15 new infections were detected in the area.

In contrast, the ordinary MCO only sees a partial lockdown where people are still allowed to leave their homes for approved reasons, such as to stock up on food or to seek medical attention.

Apart from the latest enhanced MCO today, another building in KL, namely the Menara City One, was also placed under lockdown on March 31.

Before that, two enhanced MCO was also applied on an area covering two villages in Simpang Renggam, Kluang on March 27 and another area covering seven villages in Hulu Langat on March 30 after a spike in Covid-19 cases there.

For the earlier enhanced MCO, Noor Hisham said the Health Ministry has tested almost two-thirds of the residents there.

To date, he said authorities have screened 2,536 of the 3,755 residents in the Simpang Renggam villages and 174 people tested positive, up by four cases compared to yesterday.

As for the Hulu Langat villages, 1,728 out of 1,797 residents have been tested and 350 people tested positive, up by 11 cases from yesterday.

For Menara City One, of some 5,000 residents, 2,109 people have been tested and 30 have come back positive, up by six from yesterday.

In an effort to combat the coronavirus, the country has gone into a partial lockdown since March 18.

The MCO was supposed to end on March 31 but was extended until April 14.

Under the MCO, all non-essential businesses and services must close while people are only allowed to leave their homes for approved reasons. - Mkini