KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 23 — Umno information chief Shahril Hamdan today shared on social media that he has tested positive for Covid-19 after taking part in the Sabah election campaign.

Shahril said he took the tests as a precautionary move but does not have any symptoms associated with the virus yet, apart from feeling slightly fatigued.

“Covid+. No obvious symptoms melainkan penat sikit. Decided to test yesterday in KL for prudence after case spikes as I had been campaigning in Sabah. Just received call & will be taken in today. Am sorry for the inconvenience this will cause people who came into contact,” Shahril who is also Umno Youth deputy chief, tweeted this morning.

 

 

He did not indicate in his tweet which type of Covid-19 test he underwent.

Shahril is the second Umno leader to have tested positive for Covid-19 following campaign activities in Sabah.

 

 

Posts on his Twitter account indicate that he had been assisting in Barisan Nasional’s election campaigns in Sipitang.

 

 

On Monday, Umno supreme council member Datuk Mohd Razlan Muhammad Rafii was reported as having also tested positive for Covid-19 while campaigning in Sipitang, Sabah, with his second test results pending.

Razlan reportedly tested positive for Covid-19 via a rapid test kit, with hopes that his second test via the RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction) test would show that his first result was a false positive.

Umno president and Barisan Nasional chairman Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who had been in Sabah campaigning over the past week based on his Facebook posts, also went for two Covid-19 tests on Monday.

Zahid’s first test via an antigen rapid test kit came back negative on Monday, while his second test results via the RT-PCR test has also been confirmed today to be negative.

The campaign period for the Sabah state election is for two weeks from September 12 to September 25, with polling this Saturday.

There are currently several Covid-19 clusters in Sabah, including the Bangau-Bangau cluster in Semporna, which Sabah reported yesterday with five asymptomatic Covid-19 cases detected.

As of yesterday noon in Sabah, the Benteng LD cluster (in Tawau, Lahad Datu and Sandakan and first detected on September 1) has a cumulative total of 624 cases reported, the Pulau cluster (detected on September 15 and covering Kunak and Semporna) has a cumulative total of 35 cases detected, while the Selamat cluster (detected in Semporna on September 17) has a cumulative total of 25 cases.

A new cluster in Tongod, Sandakan, Sabah named Kuarters cluster was detected on Monday (September 21) with five positive cases, while the Bakau cluster detected in Semporna, Sabah on September 19 had a cumulative total of four positive cases as of Sunday (September 20).

The Laut cluster in Kunak, Sabah was meanwhile detected on September 12 with four positive cases at that time.