Eleven in Rawang test positive for Covid-19

 

COVID-19 | Eleven individuals from a neighbourhood in Rawang were tested positive for Covid-19 today including several school students.

Kuang assemblyperson Sallehuddin Amiruddin said that the incident involved six families in Desa Puteri. All the patients have been taken to hospital while their family members are under quarantine at their respective residences.

"Health authorities have so far carried out swab tests on at least 54 individuals in the area. But contact tracing is still ongoing," he said.

According to Sallehuddin, all students at SK Bandar Tasik Puteri where the case was detected were ordered to undergo health screening two days ago.

The school had been ordered to close for a week beginning Monday for cleaning and sanitisation works.

The New Straits Times reported on Monday that the screening exercise was carried out after two of the school's students tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

However, it was not known if any more students from the school have been tested positive.

Sallehuddin said his office and the Desa Puteri Residents Association would start distributing assistance in the form of daily necessities to families affected by the outbreak and their subsequent quarantine.

He said that so far, families in six houses have been ordered to quarantine themselves pending their test results, adding that many of them depended on daily wages.

The assemblyperson urged health authorities to consider sending in a team to do screenings in the area as well as other nearby places which may have a large number of suspected cases.

Expressing his disappointment over the screening exercise for SK Bandar Tasik Puteri students, Sallehuddin said some 400 of them had to travel to Dewan Sri Siantan in Selayang to get themselves tested.

This, according to him, could have exposed them to a higher risk of infection.

"These students had to be accompanied by their parents as well. So there were so many people having to travel more than 15 kilometres for screening.

"I understand that our frontliners are also stretched thin due to the pandemic. But I hope when there is a large number of people that need to be screened in an area, they can consider sending in a team without the people having to travel elsewhere," he said. - Mkini