KUALA LUMPUR, May 29 — A large-scale disinfection exercise will be carried out for two days beginning today at 284 locations nationwide following a sharp increase in new Covid-19 cases over the past few days. 

Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin said the operation conducted by the Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department (JBPM) would focus on Selangor which has continued to record the highest number of new daily cases.

"More aggressive action must be taken and the sites to be covered include housing areas, markets and so forth. It is hoped that this effort will help reduce the spread of Covid-19 in the state,” she told reporters after witnessing a sanitisation exercise at a red zone locality, here, today.

Elaborating, Zuraida said since March last year to date,  25,252 sanitation operations have been implemented at 156 zones, of which 120 were red zones, orange zones (14), yellow zones (15) and seven green zones, which were identified by the District Health Office (PKD) according to the Ministry of Health guidelines.

In another development, Zuraida said as of May 28, 2021, a total of 2,702 JBPM personnel have been screened for Covid-19 and of the number 16 officers had tested positive, 96 were categorised as Patient Under Investigation (PUI), 89 were Person Under Surveillance (PUS) and an officer had died after contracting the virus. — Bernama