KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry has warned of a possible spike in Covid-19 cases after 181 infections were detected among flood evacuees around the country following the deluge last weekend.
Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the infections were detected after screenings were conducted at various flood relief centres yesterday.
“As at 11am, we have detected a total of 181 Covid-19 positive cases in our screening,” he told reporters in Parliament yesterday.
Also present was Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
Out of the total, Selangor has the most number of cases at 117, followed by Pahang (52), Kelantan (6), Kuala Lumpur (4) and one each in Negri Sembilan and Melaka.
However, Khairy said most of the cases were in Category One and Two, adding that 206 individuals were also identified as close contacts.
Those affected had been transferred immediately to hospitals, Covid-19 Low-Risk Quarantine and Treatment Centres (PKRC) or selected health facilities, he added.
“The Health Ministry expects that due to this flood disaster, there may be an increase in cases as the evacuation has to be carried out in a very high risk situation where some public health measures could not be fully implemented,” said Khairy.
He said he understood that in such situations, the priority was to rescue as many victims as possible and that it would be hard to observe certain standard operating procedures due to the flooding.
Khairy gave his assurance that ministry officials deployed to the field would continue to screen victims and isolate anyone found positive and that medical supplies such as face masks and hand sanitisers will be distributed to the flood victims.
Several states were hit by extremely heavy and persistent rain over the past few days last week, causing floods and landslides.
Thousands of people were evacuated and several roads were closed in Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Melaka, Negri Sembilan, Selangor, Perak and Kuala Lumpur.