COVID-19 case at MOTAC HQ, all staff working from home

PUTRAJAYA: All officers and staff at the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MOTAC) headquarters here have been instructed to undergo self-quarantine and work from home from today after detection of a COVID-19 case.

An officer with Tourism Malaysia, an agency of MOTAC, attached to the MOTAC headquarters was found to be COVID-19 positive, MOTAC said in a statement today.

“The MOTAC building in Putrajaya was sanitised by officers from the Ministry of Health yesterday evening as a measure to stem any spread of the disease,” it said.

MOTAC also said that contact tracing found that Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri had no direct contact with the infected officer and that this was verified by the Ministry of Health.

It said Nancy took a COVID-19 swab test at 5.15 pm yesterday and the result was negative.

As a precautionary measure, Nancy is scheduled to have undergone another swab test this morning, the statement said.

Meanwhile, an aide to Nancy confirmed that the minister was at the ministry office at the Sultan Abdul Samad Building in Kuala Lumpur.

“During the Parliament session, YB Minister operates from the office in Kuala Lumpur. She had no contact with the infected officer and this has been verified (through contact tracing) by the Ministry of Health,” she said.

At the Dewan Rakyat sitting today, Balik Pulau MP Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik of Pakatan Harapan (PH) asked Speaker Datuk Azhar Azizan Harun about the minister being allowed to be in the Dewan Rakyat following detection of the COVID-19 case at the MOTAC headquarters.

Nancy is scheduled to wrap up the debate in the House on the Supply Bill 2021 or Budget 2021 for her ministry today.

-- BERNAMA