CLOSE to one hundred staff and in-patients of Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah (HTAR) in Klang, Selangor have tested positive for Covid-19 in the past two weeks, raising concerns of an outbreak at the hospital, reported Malaysiakini.

The report stated patients were admitted for health issues unrelated to Covid-19 and tested negative during admission, only to develop symptoms during their stay.

Quoting sources, Malaysiakini reported that patients and hospital staff who tested positive have been transferred to Hospital Sungai Buloh for treatment.

It is learnt that Health Ministry officials attended a briefing on a possible Covid-19 outbreak at the hospital this morning.

Selangor Health director Dr Sha’ari Ngadiman confirmed the briefing.

“I take note that there have been cases (involving staff and patients infected with Covid-19) there.

“This is why the ministry officials were at the hospital to learn more about the issue. As such, I cannot give further comment,” he told Malaysiakini.

The spread of the infection is speculated to have happened either in the lifts or crowded wards.

It is learnt that several other hospitals in Selangor have also discovered Covid-19 cases among patients in general wards, who had earlier tested negative upon admission.

Hospitals near HTAR like Hospital Shah Alam, Hospital Tanjung Karang and Hospital Banting have not experienced similar outbreaks as HTAR, sources said.

HTAR has 1,094 beds and receives the greatest number of patients among all public hospitals in Selangor, not including Universiti Malaya Medical Centre.

The news report also said that Klang is currently the worst-hit district nationwide, driven mostly by clusters within factories in industrial areas.

The district recorded 3,512 cases in the past 14 days.

This has prompted the Selangor government to roll out free testing to residents living around the factories in Jalan Teratai, Meru.

The Teratai cluster, which is mostly made up of glove manufacturing giant Top Glove’s facilities, has more than 5,600 cases to date. – December 17, 2020.