LABUAN – Beginning today, Labuan health personnel have shifted their focus in active Covid-19 case detection from settlements sanctioned by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) settlements to the congested rented rooms and houses in the shoplot buildings downtown.
Labuan Health Department director Dr Ismuni Bohari said active case detection efforts were launched, in collaboration with Labuan police and the Immigration Department, at the shoplot buildings near Jalan Bunga Kemuning and Jalan Bunga Mayang as several Covid-19 patients were found to be tenants in the area.
“While we were doing Covid-19 infection analyses in several areas, especially the shoplots, we noted that in some places more than five tenants were living in one room, and with poor ventilation,” he said.
A case detection exercise in rented rooms in the shoplot buildings today revealed more than 10% of the tenants to be non-Malaysians.
Ismuni said the UNHCR-sanctioned settlements for refugees at Kg Muslim and Kiamsam and the water settlement squatters of Saguking Laut and Sebor would continue to be monitored despite having seen a significant drop in cases the past few days.
Active case detection in the local villages has been ongoing, with more than 10 of the 27 villages covered so far and fewer cases detected.
Labuan recorded a significant drop to single digits in Covid-19 cases yesterday, compared with the last one week. The duty-free-island still has five active clusters, with Saguking at 394 cases, Tenaga at 119, Titian at 65, Limbungan at 54, and Bina at 50. – Bernama, November 17, 2020
