Labuan records 350 cases in a month

PETALING JAYA: The Health Ministry said it has recorded a surge in Covid-19 cases in Labuan, with 348 cases detected from Sept 27 to Wednesday.

Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the Federal Territory has seen an increase in the number of cases after the Sabah election, with 375 infections in total as of Wednesday.

“The number of active cases in Labuan has risen to 248 and is expected to reach 300 with the ongoing targeted screenings,” he said in a Facebook post.

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Noor Hisham said the Health Ministry had set up another low-risk Covid-19 treatment centre in the past 24 hours at Dewan Serbaguna Perbadanan Labuan to manage the spread of the virus.

He said the centre, which has 140 beds, will begin operations on Thursday. There are now a total of 317 beds for Covid-19 patients in Labuan.

Labuan recorded the third highest number of Covid-19 cases on Wednesday with 29 infections, coming after Sabah (546) and Selangor (88).

The Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) in Labuan has also been extended for another 14 days from Oct 31 to Nov 13.

Senior Minister for Security Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob had said this was because there were still new positive cases being identified during targeted screenings in the communities.

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Meanwhile, a new low-risk quarantine and treatment centre (PKRC) has been set up to accommodate the growing number of positive Covid-19 patients in Labuan, says Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

The Health Director-General said the Dewan Perbadanan Labuan is now converted into a PKRC with 140 beds, bringing the total bed capacity in Labuan to 317 beds.

“The centre is fully operational on Thursday (Oct 29),” he said in a statement.

To accommodate the growing positive case treatment capacity in Labuan, Dr Noor Hisham said the Labuan Health Department had earlier increased its PKRC capacity through several phases.

Between January and March under the first phase, he said visitor homes and wellness centres were made as PKRC with a capacity of 16 beds.

“Between March and September in the second phase, the space at Labuan Hospital was maximised with an additional 105 beds.

“For Phase 3 between September and October, we had negotiations and used an external facility, the Education Department’s Technology division as PKRC with another 56 beds, making the total bed capacity at 177 beds,” he said.

He said the opening of PKRC at Dewan Perbadanan Labuan was the result of the co-operation of all parties, including the National Security Council, the police, Perbadanan Labuan and other groups and agencies in Labuan.

They included the Taiwan Buddist Tzu-Chi Foundation Malaysia, the Industrial Training Institute (ILP) and several other contributors, enabling the setting up of this treatment centre in 24 hours.