New Labuan quarantine centre to house more patients

PETALING JAYA: A new low-risk quarantine and treatment centre (PKRC) has been set up within 24 hours to accommodate the rising number of positive Covid-19 patients in Labuan, says Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

The Health director-general said the Dewan Perbadanan Labuan has been converted into a PKRC with 140 beds, bringing the total bed capacity there to 317 beds.

“The centre is now fully operational,” he said in a statement yesterday.

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

Under the first phase from January to March, visitor homes and wellness centres were turned into PKRCs with a capacity of 16 beds.

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

“For the third phase between September and October, we held negotiations and used an external facility, the Education Department’s Technology division, as a PKRC with another 56 beds, bringing the total to 177 beds,” he said, noting that the opening of the Dewan Perbadanan Labuan PKRC was the result of multi-agency cooperation, including between the National Security Council, the police, Perbadanan Labuan as well as other groups and agencies there.

They include the Taiwan Buddhist Tzu-Chi Foundation Malaysia, the Industrial Training Institute (ILP) and several other contributors that enabled the setting up of the treatment centre in such a short time.

For Covid-19 treatment in Hospital Labuan, Dr Noor Hisham said 20 out of 122 beds were set aside for patients in categories 4 and 5 of the disease.

The beds came from the first class ward and children’s ward, and will be used as beds for the high dependency unit (HDU) and intensive care units (ICU).

“The remaining 102 beds, including five existing ICU beds, will continue to be used for non-Covid-19 cases.

“The workforce for the new treatment centre will come from the Labuan Health Department and the relief team that has been sent to help the department.

“The team’s strength will be boosted from time to time to ensure the fight against Covid19 in Labuan goes on smoothly,” he added.

As of noon yesterday, Malaysia recorded 649 new Covid-19 infections and no new deaths, bringing the total confirmed cases to 30,090, with 246 deaths so far.

A total of 685 patients were discharged, bringing total recoveries to 19,757 cases.

Active cases in the country have gone up to 10,087, while five new clusters have been identified: Sakti (Sabah), Tuguson (Sabah), Bah Medan (Selangor), Taman Laut (Selangor) and Taman Bunga (Negri Sembilan), with 85 people from these clusters having tested positive so far.

Of the total number of new cases, seven were imported, with five from Indonesia, India (one) and the Philippines (one), involving two Malaysians and five foreigners.

Of the new cases, Sabah makes up the bulk with 352 new infections, followed by Selangor (132), Negri Sembilan (43), Kedah (37), Kuala Lumpur (21), Labuan (17), Penang (13), Johor (10), Sarawak (eight), Perak (five) and one each in Pahang, Melaka, Terangganu and Putrajaya.

Sabah also recorded the most recoveries yesterday, with 458 cases, followed by Selangor (94), Kedah (68), Labuan (18), Negri Sembilan (15), Penang (13), four each in Sarawak, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, and two from Johor.

Currently, 106 people are being treated at ICUs, with 23 of them requiring ventilator support.