MELAKA: The recruitment process of new trainees into Henry Gurney School in Telok Mas from all over the country maybe the cause of a rise in COVID-19 cases at the centre.

State Health and Anti-Drug Committee chairman, Datuk Rahmad Mariman said poor compliance to the standard operating procedures (SOP) was a possible contributor to the sharp increase of cases.

"So we are monitoring the situation to identify what had happened.

"I also proposed that during the Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO), the entry of new recruits should stop for the time being while existing trainees should not be allowed to go out to contain the infection," he said when contacted by Bernama here today.

Yesterday, Bernama reported EMCO would be imposed In Henry Gurney School in Telok Mas, Melaka from tomorrow (March 6) until March 19 as 152 positive cases were reported as at March 3 involving five staff, eight family members and 139 detainees.

With the spike, the MCO Technical Committee on the advice of the Health Ministry (MOH), agreed to enforce EMCO at the detention centre from tomorrow to facilitate MOH carry out targeted screening on all inmates involved to control the spread of infection to the community.

--BERNAMA



TAGS: Henry Gurney School, EMCO, COVID-19, Rahmad Mariman, SOP