COVID: First round screening of Keramat Cluster close contacts completed

SEMPORNA: All close contacts of infected individuals in Keramat Cluster, the new COVID-19 cluster here, have completed their first screening test today, said Semporna district health officer Dr Shameer Khan Sulaiman.

He said about 100 screening tests were conducted involving the cluster and from the tests, 30 samples had not yet received the results.

"After that, a second screening test will be conducted to ensure that everyone involved in this cluster is tested negative for COVID-19," he told Bernama.

Dr Shameer said his department was now focusing on ensuring that residents immediately registered for the government's immunisation programme and has requested Semporna residents to continue adhering to the standard operating procedures to curb the pandemic.

Yesterday, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah announced 16 more new COVID-19 clusters in Malaysia, including the Keramat Cluster, which has so far involved nine positive cases.

The media reported that the Keramat Cluster index case was that a 73-year-old man in Mukim Tampi-Tampi who reportedly fainted in a garden near his house and a screening test on his family found seven people, including his wife, positive for the disease.

Three of the positive family members are teachers of several primary schools here and close contact screening detected a teacher at Sekolah Tampi-Tampi tested positive for COVID-19.

-- BERNAMA