KOTA KINABALU: The body of an unidentified man, who hung himself on Gaya Island last week, tested positive for Covid-19 during the autopsy.
Following the discovery, 12 police officers who were investigating the case had since been summoned to be tested for Covid-19 as well, with the results yet to be released.
Kota Kinabalu district police chief ACP Habibi Majinji said of the 12 police officers asked to be tested, six of them were directly involved in the case, including officers who carried the body, took pictures and drove the transport vehicle.
“When dealing with the body in this case, the officers all followed operating guidelines including wearing masks and gloves. Nonetheless, the officers involved had all been asked to get tested and are awaiting results.
“We also do not rule out that if test results come back positive, the related police stations would be shut down for all-round disinfection,” said Habibi.
With regards to the case, Habibi said nobody had claimed the body of the hanged man, aged about 27 years old, and his identity remained unknown. Since there was no identification document on the body, he was suspected to be an illegal immigrant.
“At that time, residents of the island found the body hanging from a tree. The only thing the police could tell is there was no criminal motive in the case, so it was classified under sudden death,” he said.
In any case, Habibi revealed that the police, along with the Ministry of Health and other relevant authorities, had conducted a large-scale operation on Gaya Island two weeks ago, inspecting more than 1,000 islanders, and have not yet received a report of a virus diagnosis.
He pointed out that in order to more effectively control the access of residents of Gaya Island, the police now take strong measures to prevent the islanders from freely entering and leaving. Each village on the island is only allowed to send two boats to carry daily essentials, and they must be disinfected.
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