KUCHING, Feb 17 — It has been found that most Covid-19 cases at elderly care centres were traced to staff who got infected elsewhere, said Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Minister Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah.

As such, she said the Ministry is making it compulsory for workers at such premises to wear aprons, face masks and gloves when dealing with occupants, as well as to adhere to the standard operating procedures (SOPs) to curb the spread of Covid-19.

"We appeal to the care centres to strongly remind their staff to be watchful and careful of where they go when outside the premises.

"These care centres must ensure there is enough supply of face masks, gloves and hand sanitisers while also making sure their premises are regularly sanitised,” she said at a press conference today.

Fatimah was commenting on the recent Covid-19 fatalities involving two nursing homes for the elderly in Sibu.

The deaths and the many number of positive cases detected through contact tracing at the nursing homes have also led to two new clusters declared in Sibu namely the Gerunggang Cluster and Mas Merah Cluster.

"We are very worried because the elderly are part of the high risk group.

"The Sarawak Health Department director on February 15 had said that 31 other occupants had been infected. The authorities are still investigating whether the infections were linked to the Pasai Cluster which is currently the biggest and most active cluster,” she added.

She also said the Social Welfare Department (JKM) have ordered these two nursing homes to close to make way for sanitisation and disinfection work.

She revealed that one of the nursing homes affected was found to be unregistered, despite being in operations for three years, but she assured that consultation is now being done to ensure this nursing home is properly registered once the pandemic is brought under control.

She also said that based on the chronology for one of the deaths, the deceased who was an an occupant of the nursing home had just returned from visiting the family on February 9 and was found to be suffering from shortness of breath.

The operator of the nursing home then sent the victim to Sibu Hospital, who then tested positive for Covid-19 before succumbing to the disease.

As for the other death, she said it involved a worker at another nursing home.

"According to the care centre supervisor, the probability of infection is from workers living in a longhouse in Salim.

"This is because all occupants are not allowed to leave the premises or receive visits from outside,” she said. — Borneo Post