by S BIRRUNTHA/ pic by ARIF KARTONO

THE Ministry of Health (MoH) is awaiting the results of the Covid-19 test of a form five student from a Lembah Pantai school who was reportedly infected on Tuesday.

Health DG Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the student had undergone both dengue and Covid-19 screenings.

“The dengue screening results were positive, but we are still waiting for the Covid-19 test result from the laboratory.

“We want to ensure there is no cross-response during the tests which may occur as he is infected with dengue fever,” he said in his Covid-19 statement yesterday.

Dr Noor Hisham added that the ministry is investigating further on the matter apart from having received a report from the school on a symptomatic case involving another student.

He said the investigation is being conducted according to the MoH protocol, whereby any case reported needs to be investigated first and further action including active case tracking will be done if necessary.

“The results of the investigation found that a form five student from the school experienced symptoms of vomiting and diarrhoea on Monday.

“On Tuesday, he was taken to a private clinic for treatment and then transferred to a medical centre for further treatment where he was screened for dengue and Covid-19 infections,” he added.

Dr Noor Hisham said the ministry has started the initial active case detection at the school, while waiting for the Covid-19 test result.

As of yesterday, the country recorded 11 new Covid-19 cases involving eight import cases and three local transmissions.

These new cases brought the country’s overall total to 9,114.

There were 172 active Covid-19 cases being treated at health facilities nationwide.

Among the active cases yesterday, one was placed in intensive care unit.

Eight patients were discharged, increasing the total recovered cases in the country to 8,817, or 96.7%. No new deaths were recorded yesterday, the country’s death tally remained at 125.

Separately, Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the police arrested 182 people on Tuesday for violating the Recovery Movement Control Order regulations.

The violations were discovered after the compliance operations task force, led by the police, conducted 67,113 checks nationwide.

Checks were made at 4,139 markets, 5,835 restaurants, 1,812 traders, 1,802 factories, 3,944 banks and 966 government offices.

Meanwhile, a total of 9,984 individuals returned to Malaysia since July 24 and they have been placed in 61 hotels and five public training institutes nationwide.

“Of that figure, a total of 20 individuals have been sent to hospitals for treatment,” Ismail Sabri said in a statement yesterday.

He noted that the authorities had also conducted 1,559 checks on individuals who are under home quarantine to ensure they are adhering to orders.