KUALA LUMPUR: Another 86 Covid-19 cases have been detected among flood victims, bringing the total figure to 267 as at noon Tuesday (Dec 21), says Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
He said 75 of the 86 cases reported Tuesday were detected through screenings for admission to flood relief centres (PPS) while the rest were existing Covid-19 cases of those undergoing quarantine before the floods.
“So far no positive Covid-19 cases were reported while they were at PPS,” he said in a statement Tuesday.
He said these cases had been isolated from other flood victims, with nine placed at the Low-Risk Quarantine and Treatment Centre at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang, hospital (12), PPS quarantine (62) and house quarantine (three).
Dr Noor Hisham said floods could also result in an increase in other infectious diseases like food poisoning or acute gastroenteritis (AGE); typhoid and cholera; hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD); leptospirosis; acute respiratory infection (ARI); skin diseases; and dengue.
He said so far 203 cases of ARI, 73 cases of skin diseases, 19 cases of AGE, 12 cases of fever, two cases of chicken pox and 55 cases of other infectious diseases involving flood victims had been reported to the National Flood Operations Room.
He also advised people to take precautions against the spread of diseases related to floods and to always abide by the standard operating procedure to curb Covid-19.
Dr Noor Hisham said the Health Ministry did not rule out the possibility of a rise in Covid-19 cases if the SOP could not be fully implemented during the flood situation. – Bernama