A screenshot of the Health Ministry’s Facebook post declaring the viralled picture as fake.
KUCHING: The Sarawak Health Department (JKN) and AirAsia Berhad will investigate a viralled picture with an attached email from the Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC) to the airline company.
JKN director Dr Chin Zin Hing said the email that had been sent by the department to the low-cost airline company was to request passenger and cabin crew details for the flight AK5651.
“For the record, it is protocol for the CPCR to contact airline companies to get a list and details of passengers and cabin crew who are suspected to be infected by any disease, including the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19). This is done for the preparedness and prevention of an outbreak of the disease,” Dr Chin said in a statement.
The viralled picture showed a text message in Whatsapp that asked if anyone had been on an AirAsia flight on Feb 26 from Kuala Lumpur to Miri as Malaysian hospitals were looking for all passengers on board the flight as a female passenger had been infected by Covid-19, followed by another message with a screenshot of the email from the CPRC to AirAsia.
A screenshot of the viralled picture and email communication between the CPRC and Air Asia.
However, Dr Chin said that laboratory results for the female passenger came out negative.
“The female passenger is a Malaysian national returning to the country from China and she had been found to be coughing during the health screening at Miri Airport on Feb 26. She was then admitted to the isolation ward in Miri Hospital on the same day and treated as a Person Under Investigation (PUI) for Covid-19. However, results from the health screening and further laboratory tests came out negative and she was allowed to be discharged on March 2, but was put under home surveillance for 14 days,” Dr Chin said.
The Health Ministry through a post on its Facebook page had declared the viralled picture as fake and advised netizens against circulating and sharing the viralled picture.
Meanwhile, Dr Chin stressed that as of yesterday, Sarawak was still free from Covid-19.
JKN also reminded members of the public to postpone any trips to Covid-19 affected countries such as China (including Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau), South Korea, Japan, Italy and Iran.
In the event that one should fall sick and suffer respiratory illness such as fever, coughing or difficulty in breathing after returning from the aforementioned countries, it is advisable to seek immediate treatment.