MASSES AT KL CATHEDRAL SUSPENDED
Person who attended service, mass at Cathedral of St John on March 19 tests positive for Covid-19
PUBLIC masses at the Cathedral of St John here have been suspended until further notice. This came following the disclosure by the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur yesterday that a person who had attended the 12.30pm Way of the Cross service and subsequent 1pm mass at the cathedral on March 19 had tested positive for Covid-19.
“The case has been notified to the Health Ministry and is currently under investigation,” the archdiocese’s communications and media relations officer Patricia Pereira said.
“The Cathedral and the Catholic Church will offer full cooperation to the authorities and assist them with identifying close contacts, if necessary.
“Please note the ministry has established a criteria for identifying close contacts and only close contacts will be contacted for mandatory testing and given a Home Surveillance Order for quarantine.”
She said since all standard operating procedures (SOP) were adhered to by the parish, those who had attended either of the services on March 19 were not required to be tested unless they were contacted by the ministry.
“However, should you develop any Covid-19 symptoms, such as loss of sense of smell/taste, respiratory difficulties, flu-like symptoms and fever, please call the ministry’s Crisis Centre Hotline,” she said, adding that the interior of the church was sanitised after all public masses in accordance with the SOP.
She said the parish priest of the Cathedral of St John, Monsignour Leonard Lexson, having discussed the matter with Catholic Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur Most Reverend Julian Leow Beng Kim, decided that as a precautionary measure, all public masses in the cathedral would be suspended.
Malaysia recorded 1,384 new Covid-19 cases yesterday, bringing total infections to 335,540.
The Health Ministry, on its official Twitter account, said 1,375 cases involved local transmissions, while nine individuals contracted the virus abroad.
Six Covid-19 patients died yesterday, bringing the total number of fatalities to 1,244.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said Selangor continued to log the highest number of new cases at 625, with 557 coming from clusters and close-contact screenings.
Johor came in second at 161 cases, followed by Sarawak (140), Penang (100), Kelantan (65), Kuala Lumpur (64), Sabah (60), Kedah (51), Melaka (45), Pahang (38), Labuan (14), Negri Sembilan (10), Terengganu (seven) and Perak (four).
Of the new cases, 37 were linked to the prison and Immigration detention depot (DTI) clusters, involving the Jalan Harapan Prison (29), Tembok Pengkalan Chepa (five), Sepang 2 DTI (one), Jalan Awang (one) and Telok Mas (one) clusters.
Dr Noor Hisham said three workplace clusters were detected yesterday, involving factory and supermarket warehouse workers in Penang, Johor and Selangor.
All the cases were detected via mass targeted screening held at the workers’ workplaces, he said.
The Teknologi Bukit Minyak cluster in Penang reported the highest number of new Covid-19 cases at 98.
Dr Noor Hisham said there were 399 active clusters up to yesterday.
A total of 1,310 clusters have been detected since the pandemic began, with 911 of them ended.