CORONAVIRUS | Health Director-General Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has appealed to 5,084 people who were previously screened and found without Covid-19 symptoms to come forward for tests.

In a press conference today, he said the ministry was working with the police to locate this group.

The group include both attendees of the tabligh event at Masjid Seri Petaling in Kuala Lumpur and close contacts of those who did. 

“We need to find these 5,084, they are not tested yet. Of the tabligh group, (those) not tested are 5,084 [...]

“We are working closely with the police to encourage them to come to our clinics and then we will do the test for them,” he said.

“We will try to find them, and hopefully they will come forward to do the test,” he added.

Covid-19 tests at public healthcare facilities are free.

Noor Hisham shared that the ministry previously screened 17,584 people who either attended the tabligh event or were close contacts of those did.

Of that number, 5,084 were sent home after they did not exhibit any symptoms. The other 12,500 were tested for the virus.  

 Based on the test samples, 1,207 were found positive for the virus while 6,648 were found negative. Test results for 4,645 are pending

The ministry later decided that all from the group must be tested for the virus, thus today’s appeal to the 5,084 previously sent home.

Screening for Covid-19 involves checking for symptoms and being asked questions about possible exposure to the virus.

Testing involves a swab. The swab sample is then sent to a laboratory before results can be obtained.

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