KUALA LUMPUR – The Health Ministry said there has been one death due to Covid-19 linked to the special Dewan Rakyat sitting from July 26 to 29.
Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah in a statement today said the fatality involved a government official with a history of being in the Parliament building on the said dates, and whose pre-sitting screening on July 23 and RTK-Ag self-test on July 29 both returned negative results.
“He exhibited symptoms on July 31, and his PCR test returned a positive result with a cycle threshold (CT) value of 14.88.
“His condition deteriorated, and he was admitted to hospital on August 4 for treatment. His condition turned critical, and he died on August 9.”
The case is among nine additional infections linked to the parliamentary meet, he said, taking the total to 97.
He said four close contacts saw positive results from their RTK-Ag test in the pre-sitting screening, and this was reported by the district health office on July 23.
Of the four, one had a CT value of 19.62, and the rest between 32.76 and 36.07.
“Eight samples from the Parliament cases with a low CT value have been sent to the Institute of Medical Research for genomic testing. Five of them involve the Delta variant of concern, while two were not processed successfully. We are awaiting the result for the remaining sample,” said Dr Noor Hisham.
On Sunday, it was reported that 88 Covid-19 cases linked to the sitting were identified.
It was reported earlier today that 63-year-old Datuk Jaimin Samitah, an aide to Deputy Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Guandee Kohoi, died of the coronavirus.
He attended the special Parliament meet. – Bernama, August 10, 2021
