COVID-19: Leading resort in Langkawi temporarily closed

State Health director Dr Othman Warijo said the resort's management took its own initiative to suspend operations temporarily to curb the spread of the pandemic and protect the safety of staff and guests.

He said the initial investigation found that the case involved local transmissions among the resort workers and did not involve any tourists.

"The initial cases were detected through regular COVID-19 testing of the resort staff and 17 cases have been confirmed by the state Health Department so far," he told Bernama when contacted today.

Dr Othman said the department was still conducting close contact tracing activities and urged any individuals with symptoms such as fever, sore throat and severe breathing difficulties to undergo COVID-19 screening and seek immediate treatment at the nearest health facilities.

Meanwhile, The Datai Langkawi, in a statement today, said the resort would be closed temporarily for a minimum period of 10 days.

"Working with the Ministry of Health, any and all further instructions have been implemented immediately. This includes the professional deep cleaning and sanitisation of the staff quarters as well as the resort in entirety by an accredited specialised company.

"The management of the resort has also independently and proactively initiated a full testing protocol for all team members, as part of its own programme of the highest of precautionary measures," the statement read.