No MPs tested positive for COVID-19 so far - Health DG

No positive COVID-19 cases were detected among the Members of Parliament (MPs) who have been tested so far, said Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

He said that so far 750 people, including MPs, Parliament staff and members of the media, have undergone COVID-19 screenings ahead of the one-day sitting of Parliament on Monday.

“So far, Alhamdulillah (Praise be to God) no positive cases.

“We are still conducting (the tests) in the next one or two days and maybe we can have the (full) results in 24 hours’ time,” he told a daily COVID-19 news conference here today.

On Wednesday, the Parliament administration, with the help of the relevant agencies, conducted COVID-19 tests in preparation for the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara meetings on Monday.

The Parliament management has taken steps to ensure that the one-day sitting would be conducted in accordance with the standard operating procedure (SOP) set by the Health Ministry.

Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham said the ministry was looking into the possibility of updating the data on COVID-19 fatalities by stating whether the deaths were directly linked to the coronavirus or due to other causes.

"There were cases linked to (other) diseases, accidents or where the cause of death was not COVID-19 but when we took swabs the tests turned out positive.

"For example, in the case of the 113th death, the patient had final stage lung cancer and was given leave for palliative care at home. After that the patient’s health deteriorated further and when the (COVID-19) test was conducted it happened to be positive but the cause of death was lung cancer.

"This is what we are discussing, whether we should consider it positive COVID-19 case, or cause of death like suicide but COVID-19; so far we registered such cases as COVID-19," he added.

In another development, Dr Noor Hisham confirmed that the surveillance period for the Bandar Baru Ibrahim Majid cluster in Johor and Tabligh Makasar Sabah cluster in Sabah ended today.

The Bandar Baru Ibrahim Majid cluster recorded 193 cases with four deaths while the Tabligh Makasar Sabah cluster registered nine positive cases and no deaths, he added.

-- BERNAMA