THE Selangor Health Department will issue compounds to private hospitals and clinics which fail to report on new Covid-19 cases on the same day of detection, said Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari.

The cases have to be reported through the public health laboratory test result system (Simka).

Amirudin said there is a backlog of cases as a result from late reporting of cases discovered at workplaces, prisons and private healthcare facilities.

“This backlog goes back to as far as cases which happened 10 days ago.”

Amirudin said failure to report in real time is among the reasons leading to the spike in cases in the state.

The authorities have also identified companies around Selangor which became virus hot spots.

The state government will also forward a proposal to Putrajaya to act against errant employers who failed to report positive cases among their employees.

“To prevent the emergence of new clusters in factories and workplaces, Selangor will propose to the federal government to take strict action and close down any company which hides positive cases detected among their employees and fails to cooperate with contact-tracing activities.”

On that note, Selangor has decided to implement the “preventing outbreak at ignition site” (POIS) system.

POIS is a screening programme in all factories and workplaces which have the potential to develop clusters and conducive to the spread of the virus – with an aim to break the chain of infection.

Selangor task force Covid-19 (STFC) chief Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad told The Malaysian Insight last month that it had recommended the state government adopt the programme as a measure to curb the spread of the virus.

POIS is a proactive and pre-emptive programme to prevent an outbreak, he said.

It encourages the adoption of enhanced public health measures (EPHMs) by employers who have a large workforce.

Amirudin said the meeting also discussed the proposal to increase Covid-19 assessment centres (CAC) in the Petaling, Hulu Langat and Gombak districts.

The capacity at the low-risk treatment and quarantine centre at MAEPS, Serdang, has also been increased to accommodate 6,000 patients.

Amirudin urged the people to comply with the standard operating procedure consistently.

Of the record high 5,725 Covid-19 cases reported nationwide yesterday, Selangor accounted for 3,126 cases, the highest daily caseload of any state yet.

Almost half of these cases in Selangor were reported in the Petaling district, which covers the most densely populated areas of the state.

The total case count in Selangor is 62,189 and it recorded 139 deaths. – January 30, 2021.