THE Ministry of Defence (Mindef) confirmed today that 98 crewmen of the Royal Malaysian Navy ship, KD Mahawangsa, tested positive for Covid-19.

Senior Minister of Security and Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the crew had taken the RTK Antigen test before boarding the ship and but were confirmed positive for Covid-19 after a few days onboard the ship.

“So far, they are not showing any symptoms, but we have isolated them and placed all of them under quarantine.

“InsyaAllah, after 10 days (of quarantine), they will take the PCR test, and if the results come back negative, then they will be allowed to disembark,” he told a press conference after visiting the drive-through vaccination centre at the Sungai Besi military camp in Kuala Lumpur today.

Also present were Health Minister Dr Adham Baba and Chief of Defence Forces Gen Affendi Buang.

Ismail Sabri said the ministry had yet to ascertain how the crew of the ship were infected with the coronavirus.

“As we know, Covid-19 is in the community. These crewmen must have been infected with Covid-19 before they boarded the ship, probably when they were at home or while buying groceries at a supermarket,” he said.

Meanwhile, the senior minister said he was in the midst of discussing with the Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee Special Committee the possibility of allowing Mindef to get its vaccine supply directly from Pharmaniaga Berhad, which is responsible for bottling the Sinovac vaccine.

He said by doing so, herd immunity for military personnel and civil servants under Mindef, as well as their families, could be achieved faster.

“Overall, we have 500,000 personnel including their families and we target 200,000 to be vaccinated per month to enable us to achieve herd immunity within three months,” he added. – Bernama, June 8, 2021.