Transit lockup detainee tests postive for COVID-19 in Penang

GEORGE TOWN: A man who was detained and placed in a transit lockup in Nibong Tebal police station near here was tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday and it was the first case involving police detainee in the state.

Penang police chief Datuk Sahabudin Abd Manan said a 23-year-old man was held on Oct 13 and a COVID-19 screening test was conducted the next day before he was found positive for the disease yesterday.

“It is a police procedure now for all detainees to be placed in the transit lockup before the COVID-19 screening test is carried out and it is after the results have been obtained that we put the detainees in the lockup proper while those tested positive would be sent to hospital for further treatment.

“Meanwhile his close contacts including police officers and personnel had taken COVID-19 screening and were quarantined...we are still waiting for the results of the close contacts," he said when contacted by Bernama today.

Yesterday, Health director-general Tan Sri Noor Hisham Abdullah announced 33 new positive cases in Penang including one case involving a police detainee.

Elaborating further, Sahabudin said at the moment, each district police headquarters in the state has a transit lockup to place all new detainees.

All police lockups including transit lockups are sanitised periodically with the assistance of the fire and rescue department and local authorities.

“We strictly adhere to the standard operating procedure (SOP) to ensure no spreading of infection among detainees and police personnel in the state and currently all are stable including the positive individual,” he said.

Currently Penang has two clusters, the Penjara Reman cluster and the Penjara Jawi cluster with all cases involving prisoners placed in the two prisons.

As at yesterday, the Penjara Reman cluster recorded 217 COVID-19 positive cases with one death while the Penjara Jawi cluster recorded 28 cases.

-- BERNAMA