LABUAN – The newly emerged Titian 2 Covid-19 cluster started from a group of community in the Filipino Refugee Settlement Scheme in Kg Muslim here.
At least 37 cases have been reported as of yesterday from this cluster out of the 870 people screened.
Labuan Health Department director Dr Ismuni Bohari said Kg Muslim is a cramped and densely populated refugee settlement and the risk of widespread Covid-19 transmission is high.
“We have conducted a Covid-19 risk management assessment on this settlement. As the living conditions there are too congested, the migrants also pose a risk of further spreading the outbreak,” he said today.
Dr Ismuni said healthcare teams would continue to conduct screenings of Covid-19 patients’ close contacts and the people in the settlement.
Labuan Disaster Management Committee chairman Rithuan Ismail said a police roadblock had been mounted at the main entry point to the settlement in the last three days.
“The police roadblock will be tightened due to the emergence of the cluster in the settlement. We have yet to decide how long the roadblock will continue as it depends on the risk management assessment by healthcare personnel,” he said.
Labuan National Security Council (NSC) director Mohd Hafiez Daud said 2,912 refugees in the settlement were registered with the NSC.
“These refugees are mostly holding IMM13 (a document issued to Filipino refugees in Sabah and Labuan), and we cannot deny that a small number of those staying in the settlement are Malaysian,” he said.
Labuan is seeing a downward trend in the number of individuals testing positive for Covid-19, recording two digits in daily new cases in the past four days. – Bernama, July 9, 2021
