KUALA LUMPUR – A total of 4,756 frontliners from the Health Ministry have been infected with Covid-19 so far, said Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
He said that of the total, 3,101 were female, and 1,655 were male.
“Most of them were infected in their communities, not in the facilities where they work,” he said in an online engagement session with the media on Covid-19 here today.
The session was also attended by senior consultant physician for infectious diseases from Sungai Buloh Hospital, Datuk Dr C. Suresh Kumar; the head of the virology unit of the Medical Research Institute, Dr T. Ravindran; National Public Health Laboratory director Dr Hani Mat Hussin, and Medical Practices Division senior principal assistant director Dr Mohamed Ahsan Mohamed Ismail.
He said 936 frontliners from the Royal Malaysian Police have also been infected with the virus so far.
Dr Noor Hisham also said that 93 health staff at Sultanah Nur Zahirah Hospital had tested positive for Covid-19.
“We are actively tracing their close contacts and they have now been isolated for treatment,” he said.
Dr Noor Hisham said another patient carrying the B177 variant of the disease had been identified in Malaysia upon returning from the United Arab Emirates.
The B117 variant was detected for the first time in the country in December when a number of Malaysians returned from the United Kingdom. – Bernama, February 5, 2021