KUCHING: The state Health Department yesterday dismissed viral posts which implied that there is a positive case of Covid-19 in the state.
Its director Dr Chin Zin Hing in a statement said the department had confirmed detecting a passenger of AK5651 flight from Kuala Lumpur (KLIA2) to Miri, who was coughing while undergoing health screening at Miri Airport at 12.07pm on Feb 26.
“The passenger is a Malaysian who recently returned from China. She was admitted to Miri Hospital’s isolation ward that same day and treated as a Person Under Investigation (PUI) for Covid-19 infection.
“After that, laboratory screening and replication tests for Covid-19 were done and the results were negative. The patient was discharged on March 2 but remained under home surveillance for 14 days,” he explained.
He was responding to viral textual posts accompanying a screenshot of an email by the department’s Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC) to AirAsia Operation Control Centre on Feb 26 regarding the application of flight details of the AK5651.
The text message implied that the department was looking for all the passengers on the flight because the PUI was positively infected by Covid-19.
On this, Chin stressed that the application for the passengers’ details was one of the CPRC’s standard operating procedures (SOPs) to contact flight companies for precautionary measures in the control and prevention of the spread of the disease.
“Thus, the Health Department would like to reiterate that as of today, there is no positive case of Covid-19 in the state,” he said.
Chin further stated that the department and AirAsia Berhad would investigate the viral posts which have raised fears among Sarawakians.
