Covid-19: Sarawak Health Dept clarifies email involving Miri flight

KUCHING, March 2 -- The Sarawak Health Department (JKNS) today said it was standard practice for it to obtain the list and details of an aircraft’s passengers and crew suspected to be infected with COVID-19 by contacting the airline concerned.

The clarification was made following a screen shot of the Health department’s email that was sent to a private airline’s Operations Control Centre requesting for passenger and cabin crew details of a plane on Feb 26 that had gone viral on social media.

Health director Dr Chin Zin Hing said he had been informed of the viralled posting and would be investigating the matter.

He said the Health department had identified a female passenger on an aircraft from Kuala Lumpur (KLIA2) to Miri, Sarawak, who was coughing during a health screening by a medical personnel at Miri Airport at 12.07 pm on Feb 26.

“The passenger was a Malaysian who had just returned from China. She was admitted to the isolation ward, Miri Hospital on the same day and treated as a Patient-Under-Investigation (PUI) for coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) infection.

“Following this, laboratory-based screening test and a repeated COVID-19 test was negative and she was allowed to return today but is still under observation at home for 14 days,” he said in a statement today.

Dr Chin said to date, there have been no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Sarawak.

-- BERNAMA