COVID: Hulu Terengganu is now red zone due to Aidilfitri SOPs violation

KUALA TERENGGANU: The Hulu Terengganu district has turned into a red zone in the blink of an eye today, due to the recent violation of the Aidilfitri standard operating procedures (SOPs).

Terengganu Health director Dr Nor Azimi Yunus said that it was triggered by certain individuals acting selfishly, by embarking on illegal inter-state travels and gatherings to celebrate Aidilfitri, which resulted in Mukim Kuala Berang being placed under the Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO).

"Thus far, there are 124 COVID-19 cases, contributed from five active clusters in Hulu Terengganu. Among others, the LH cluster, involving an individual who returned home from celebrating Aidilfitri in Johor, causing 24 Hulu Terengganu residents to test positive.

"Another cluster, in a residential area, due to another individual who went home to celebrate Aidilfitri in Bentong, Pahang and visited the neighbours. In the end, six tested positive for COVID-19, while hundreds of others are close contacts," she said in her Facebook posting today.

A new cluster also emerged in Mukim Hulu Temelong, where the SOP violator, with symptoms, went to Melaka and returned here before spreading the infection to their office, causing 10 workers to be tested positive.

She then said that in Mukim Tanggol, 14 individuals who visited their family members, following a death in the family in Marang, also tested positive for COVID-19.

"It should be enough for one or two people to pay their last respects at a funeral, and adhere to the SOPs. The failure to do so has even caused the infection to spread to a nearby mosque, where the bilal and congregants tested positive," she said.

Yesterday, Terengganu recorded 207 new COVID-19 cases and two deaths, bringing the total to 1,911 active cases in the state thus far.

There are 11 patients still being treated in the intensive care unit (ICU) of the Sultanah Nur Zahirah Hospital, with four patients requiring respiratory support.

-- BERNAMA