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A popular hotel in Langkawi has been ordered to close temporarily after more than 50 staff and their family members tested positive for COVID-19
Kedah state health director Dr Othman Warijo told New Straits Times, “The state Health Department reported the emergence of the Dah Teluk Nibung cluster in Langkawi. The case transmission has been categorised as a workplace cluster.”
“As of today, this cluster comprised local staff and close contacts involving family members,” he added.
Since Friday, 1 October, a total of 249 people have been screened for the coronavirus disease.
59 people have tested positive, 192 people tested negative, and three others are still awaiting their swab test results.
Image for illustration purposes only.
Image via Langkawi by Hotels.com
Initial investigations suggested that the transmission began from the community before spreading to the workplace
Following the outbreak, the hotel management decided to voluntarily shut down its operations for the time being.
“All the identified close contacts have undergone COVID-19 screening and have been placed under a Home Surveillance Order (HSO) for 10 days,” Othman explained.
He assured that the state health department has managed to control and contain the transmission of the virus.
Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said that MySejahtera’s automated contact tracing module has sent out casual contact notifications to individuals who checked in at the hotel
He urged those who received the casual contact notification and are showing COVID-19 symptoms to get tested.
He then noted that this is what the new normal will look like.
“We will improve casual and close contact notifications and ask you to watch out for symptoms,” he said in a tweet.
This is what the new normal will look like. We will improve casual & close contact notifications and ask you to watch out for symptoms.
— Khairy Jamaluddin (@Khairykj) October 4, 2021