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KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin will be in quarantine for 14 days, after being in contact with a minister who later tested positive for Covid-19.
In a statement on Monday (October 5), Tan Sri Muhyiddin said that even though all his recent tests for the coronavirus were negative, he would still be observing self-quarantine, as advised by the Health Ministry.
“This will not affect government affairs. I will continue working from home and have video calls for meetings that I have to preside over, ”he said.
“As a precautionary measure, I have been undergoing swab tests for Covid-19 every two weeks since April 2020 and all of these screening tests have been confirmed to be negative,” the prime minister said.
“I did three tests for Covid-19 in the last three weeks on September 22, 26 and 29 and they came back negative,” he added.
On October 3, Muhyiddin chaired a special Covid-19 ministerial meeting in the Prime Minister’s Department, which was attended by ministers, including the de facto Minister of Islamic Affairs, Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri, who announced yesterday (Monday) that he had positive in the virus test.
Other ministers who attended the meeting are also known to have been recommended to self-quarantine.
In a Facebook post, Dr. Zulkifli said: “For all Malaysians, I am currently in treatment after testing positive for Covid-19 … my health is good.”
He urged those who attended the same events as him between September 24 and October 4 to get tested immediately.
This is the second time that Muhyiddin has been in home quarantine.
On May 22, he observed a 14-day quarantine after an officer at a post-Cabinet meeting he presided over tested positive for the coronavirus.
Malaysia has seen a recent increase in coronavirus cases, mainly related to the election campaign in Sabah, a new virus hotspot.
The country reported yesterday (Monday) a record 432 new cases, the highest daily figure since the pandemic hit the country. This brings the total number of cases since the outbreak began to 12,813.
No new deaths were reported, keeping the death toll at 137.
Meanwhile, the 1MDB trial of former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak was delayed because he was serving a two-week home quarantine after traveling to Sabah, where state elections were held on September 26.
The trial will resume on October 19.
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