PUTRAJAYA: Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah says there were some health workers who still went for work despite exhibiting Covid-19 symptoms, adding that some even failed to wear masks in the hospital.
In a press conference, he said they should have taken leave instead of coming to the hospital for work since Covid-19 infections were rampant in the community.
“There are some who were infected and had symptoms but still came to the hospital (for work) and some didn’t wear masks, for example. So infections started to happen in the hospital,” he said when asked on the outbreak in certain hospitals.
“So this is a reminder to all individuals, especially health workers, to follow the SOPs. There might be some instances where we grow complacent or forgetful, like when we’re eating at the pantry.
“The citizens out there are not the only one who have to comply with the SOPs. Every health worker has to follow the SOPs too,” he said.
Noor Hisham said there were two clusters linked to Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Klang (HTAR), namely the Batu Sembilan and Yayasan clusters which recorded 10 and 60 cases respectively.
The Yayasan cluster involves a haemodialysis patient who was Covid-19 positive and then infected a health worker. The virus then spread to other health workers in the hospital.
Meanwhile, the Batu Sembilan cluster involves the catering unit of the hospital.
“Right now, the situation is under control. We have identified the cases,” said Noor Hisham.
He added that HTAR had a total of 122 cases while Hospital Sungai Buloh has reported 80 infections, which includes 37 cases from the Impian cluster.
He also noted reports of a mutated and more infectious strain of the virus in the United Kingdom and calls for Malaysia to ban travellers coming in from the European country.
He said the health ministry would monitor the situation in the UK closely while stepping up surveillance of those returning from there and under quarantine.
“Those returning from the UK will be tested and quarantined for 10 days. That’s what we’ve been doing and we hope that it’s sufficient. But we will step up our surveillance for those returning from the UK.”
The UK is reimplementing strict lockdown rules over the Covid-19 mutation which has a 70% increased infection rate.
Former prime minister Najib Razak has urged the government to restore the 14-day quarantine period for travellers from Europe and to bar UK visitors. He pointed out that countries like Sweden, Canada, Turkey and Saudi Arabia had started barring travellers from the UK since yesterday.
“So this is a reminder to everyone, especially health workers, to follow the rules. There might be some instances where we grow complacent or forgetful, like when we’re eating at the pantry.
“The citizens out there are not the only one who have to comply with the SOPs. Every health worker has to follow the SOPs too,” he said.
Noor Hisham said there were two clusters linked to Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Klang, namely the Batu Sembilan and Yayasan clusters which recorded 10 and 60 cases respectively.
The Yayasan cluster involves a haemodialysis patient who was Covid-19 positive and then infected a health worker. The virus then spread to other hospital staff. The Batu Sembilan cluster involves the catering unit of the hospital.
“Right now, the situation is under control. We have identified the cases,” said Noor Hisham.
He added that the Klang hospital had a total of 122 cases while Hospital Sungai Buloh has reported 80 infections, which includes 37 cases from the Impian cluster.
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