MoH says 3 new Covid-19 cases were recorded yesterday, involving 2 foreigners and one Malaysian

by S BIRRUNTHA/ pic by TMR FILE

PRIVATE pool operators must register with the International Trade and Industry Ministry (MITI) to allow for compliance monitoring and other enforcement purposes before they reopen to users.

Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the Housing and Local Government Ministry, as well as the local authorities will be responsible in ensuring that standard operating procedures are followed by the operators.

“This is applicable to all recreational activities in swimming pools, and operators are required to register the reopening of their pools with MITI via its official website,” he said in a statement yesterday.

He had previously announced the reopening of swimming pools and other recreational water activities from July 1 onwards, except for water theme parks.

Meanwhile, Ismail Sabri said foreigners whose social visit passes expired during the Movement Control Order (MCO) period can go to immigration offices to get their passes renewed.

He added that for foreigners whose social visit passes have ended during the Recovery MCO (RMCO), they can go straight to the airport to return to their respective countries.

“This must be done within 14 days from the date that the RMCO ends, which is slated to end on Aug 31,” he added. Last week, Ismail Sabri said foreigners with expired visas have no excuse not to renew them, as immigration offices are now open during the RMCO.

He added that foreigners who wish to extend their stay in the country must renew their visas.

Separately, the Health Ministry (MoH) said three new Covid-19 cases were recorded yesterday, involving two foreigners and one Malaysian.

Of the two locally transmitted cases among the foreigners, one case was detected from the Pedas cluster and the other was linked to the “Meninggal Di Rumah” (MDR) cluster.

The MDR cluster was from a 96-year-old woman who was found dead at her home in Sabah. The deceased was later tested positive for Covid-19. Another local case involving a citizen yesterday was also found linked to the MDR cluster.

Among the active cases yesterday, three were placed in the intensive care unit (ICU), with none of them requiring respiratory aid.

The increase in new cases has added the current active cases to 283 and the country’s overall total to 8,590.

Nine patients were reported to have recovered yesterday, increasing the recovered cases percentage to 95.3%, which equals to 8,186 as of yesterday.

No new deaths have been recorded as the country’s death tally remains at 121.

Additionally, Health DG Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah also confirmed yesterday that the religious church gathering cluster in Kuching has officially ended. The cluster was first detected on March 15.

He said the ministry has ended the cluster after it had not detected any new cases of infection after two incubation cycles of Covid-19 for 48 days.

He added that to date, a total of 2,751 individuals linked to the cluster were screened and 191 of them were found positive.

“A total of 12 cases were treated in the ICU and three casualties were recorded in this cluster.

“The cluster covered up to five generations from various parts of Sarawak and now, it has come to an end,” he said in his Covid-19 statement yesterday.

Dr Noor Hisham also congratulated the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee and all parties who had provided their services related to the cluster.