[ad_1]
PUTRAJAYA: The spread of Covid-19 among detainees in prison could have been mitigated if the new inmates had been separated from the older ones, says Tan Sri Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah (Photo).
The director general of Health said that Covid-19 is more likely to be transmitted when a detainee is a carrier and is very close to other inmates.
“It is better if the new detainees do not mix with those who are already there.
“Even if detainees test negative for RT-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction), the newest ones should not be placed together with the rest for up to 14 days, due to the incubation period of Covid-19 .
“This should not apply only in dungeons or prisons, but also in immigration detention warehouses,” Dr. Noor Hisham said at the ministry’s press conference here on Thursday (September 10).
He was commenting on the rapid increase in the number of cases under the Benteng LD (Lahad Datu) group in Sabah, which mainly involves detainees in prison in the state.
Benteng’s LD group is now the largest and most active in the country, with 170 confirmed cases so far.
Of that total, 83 positive cases were detected in Tawau and 87 in Lahad Datu.
As of Thursday, 40 of the 45 new cases in the country were from this group.
The cluster was first detected on September 1 after authorities captured two illegal immigrants from the Philippines as part of the “Ops Benteng” mission, a joint operation by police, armed forces and other agencies to catch undocumented aliens.
The first cases were found after a Covid-19 review conducted on detainees at the Lahad Datu police headquarters.
The cases spread to Tawau Prison, some 150 kilometers away, after some of the detainees who had a history of travel to Lahad Datu infected other inmates there.
Tawau Prison has been placed under an Enhanced Movement Control (MCO) order from 12:01 am on Friday (September 11) to September 25.
[ad_2]
