Cause of infection in depots likely to be staff's inbound, outbound activities

The Ministry of Health (MOH) has announced the possibility of infection cases in the Immigration Detention Depots (DTI) stemming from the activities of staff entering and exiting the area besides other illegal immigrants (PATI).

Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the ministry had also detected two new positive cases at the Immigration Temporary Detention Depot (DTSI) in Putrajaya today.

So far, he said, 97 screening samples have been taken, however, cases in the depot have not yet been classified as new clusters.

"So, we are looking at other cases because the positive infection rate is only two per cent, so it is not a cluster yet.

"But we are investigating where this positive case is coming from and the refinement of this positive case and we have not yet classified or included it as a cluster," he said at a daily press conference here today.

Commenting further, Dr Noor Hisham said most of the PATI in the depot were detained for a long period of three to four months.

Therefore, he said the infection should not have occurred to the group.

"They should be free from infection but when they do get the infection, it is most likely from PATI or other people under detention. Another possibility is that we fear it from staff or employees coming in and out," he said.

In a separate development, Dr Noor Hisham said nine close contacts of positive cases involving Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) students have been identified so far.

He said all the close contacts had been instructed to quarantine for 14 days.

"It is similar for UUM, their students have been locked up for 28 days on their campus but we understand that some of them get outside exposure, for example canteen operators and so on.

"Canteen operators sometimes come in and out and they may bring the infection but we are still investigating," he said.