MEMBERS of the Sri Petaling tabligh visited 120 tahfiz schools more than five times, Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said today. 

About 4.1% or 718 of the 17,477 tahfiz pupils screened have tested positive. 

“It is not that we want to stigmatise them but we want to ensure they do not have the virus,” he said. 

“This is because we found that the tabligh members visited 120 tahfiz schools more than five times,” he added.

The director-general of health said pupils of all 120 schools have been registered with the ministry, which will enable the latter to keep tabs on their whereabouts. 

“The pupils have gone back to their hometowns during the movement-control order. We have their names and are aware of where they are so we can do contact tracing,” he said.

Dr Noor Hisham was responding to queries on a Facebook post claiming that a tahfiz pupil from Sri Sendayan had travelled to Alor Star and was found to be positive.

Tahfiz pupils are also one of nine target groups the ministry has identified as being vulnerable to the coronavirus infection. 

A detainee at the Bukit Jalil immigration detention centre is the 121st person to succumb to Covid-19 in Malaysia today.

The director-general of health said the deceased was a 67-year-old Indian national had a history of chronic illnesses such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and kidney ailment.

“He was unconscious when he was found and was brought to the Canselor Tuanku Muhriz UKM Hospital by ambulance. He was pronounced dead on June 12,” Dr Noor Hisham said at the daily health briefing today. 

As for new infections, he said the country once again reported a single-digit growth in new cases with eight new infections.

He said this brings the total number of infections to 8,453 while the number of active cases stood at 986. 

Dr Noor Hisham said two of the new cases were imported and involved permanent residents while the remaining were locally transmitted, of which two cases involved citizens. 

He said four of the new locally transmitted infections were detected at the Kuala Lumpur 2 construction site and involved Bangladeshis.

He said 35 people have recovered and have been discharged from hospital as of noon today.

This brings the total number of recoveries to 7,346.

Four patients are being treated in the intensive care unit, he added. – June 14, 2020.