KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 4 — A total of 149 people who visited Kedah through the Langkawi Travel Bubble programme since September 16 have been found to be Covid-19 positive after being tested with the Antigen Rapid Test Kits (RTK-Ag).

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham in a statement today said so far 186 people have been identified to be their close contacts.

He added that collectively, 40,458 people had been screened throughout the duration of the programme’s implementation of about two weeks.

The number above includes those who had opted to do the real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests themselves and tested negative before leaving for Langkawi.

“This (total) involves 34,038 people who were screened at seven airport entry gates and 6,420 people through ferry at Kuala Perlis and Kuala Kedah,” he added.

The seven airports involved are Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), KLIA 2, Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Subang Airport, Penang International Airport, Sultan Azlan Shah Perak Airport, Senai Johor International Airport and Sultan Ismail Petra Kelantan Airport.

Noor Hisham also gave an update on the three-year old child who was the first Langkawi travel bubble tourist to test positive for Covid-19, on September 26.

“The case along with her mother and father arrived in Langkawi via flight from Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA2).

“The mother and father of the child were fully vaccinated, and received RTK-Ag screening that was confirmed negative before leaving for Langkawi. They were also not close contact cases to Covid-19 positive cases.

“The case was asymptomatic and all close contacts were given Home Surveillance Orders (HSO),” he said.

He also stressed that the Dah Teluk Nibung cluster in Langkawi — which had been reported by the Kedah Health Department on October 1 — was a workplace cluster involving Langkawi’s local workers and their close contacts, and did not involve the three-year old child’s case.

He added that the situation in Langkawi is being monitored by authorities, and that health regulations for Langkawi and upcoming travel bubble programmes as announced by the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (Motac) will be enhanced.