COVID-19: All Penang Remand Prison staff test negative in second screening test

GEORGE TOWN: All staff who had come into close contact with inmates confirmed positive for COVID-19 at the Penang Remand Prison have tested negative in a second screening test done.

Penang Remand Prison director Mohamed Jusoh Ismail said the department received the screening results yesterday, and did not rule out the possibility that further tests would be conducted.

"Further screening tests are necessary because some prison staff have to accompany doctors when examining COVID-19 positive inmates at the treatment centre located in the prison," he said when contacted today.

Since Oct 5, the Remand Prison Cluster has recorded 189 cases with 11 new ones yesterday, and as of 12.01 am today, the Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) has been enforced at the prison as well as the prison quarters.

Mohamed Jusoh said the Ministry of Health (MOH) would also be screening the close contacts of prison staff such as their family members, adding that the cause of the outbreak at the prison had yet to be identified.

On the EMCO, he said a total of 220 prison staff who did not live at the prison quarters were currently not allowed to return home, and would be placed in temporary quarters provided by the Malaysian Prisons Department in the EMCO area.

He said leave applications for 320 prison staff had also been frozen, and the department would ensure that all its staff complied with the set directives during the EMCO.

Meanwhile, Timur Laut District Police chief ACP Soffian Santong said the EMCO in the area was under control, however, the police would discuss with the MOH on how best to manage the many patients coming to seek treatment at the Penang Hospital’s Methadone clinic located next to the prison.

Meanwhile, Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow in a statement today said the Penang State National Security Council (MKN) had informed him that all parties were cooperating well with the implementation of the EMCO.

"I also hope the people of Penang will work together with the state government and our frontliners in the effort to break the COVID-19 chain of infection. Never spread or make viral unauthentic information that could trigger unnecessary panic," he said.

Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced on Tuesday that the EMCO will be implemented at the Penang Remand Prison area effective Oct 15, involving 2,306 prisoners as well as 304 staff and families living at the residential quarters near the prison. Also involved were 220 prison staff who did not live in the quarters.

-- BERNAMA