PETALING JAYA: A group of 132 tahfiz students, aged between 15 and 30, have been quarantined at a Covid-19 quarantine station.
The group of students from the Seri Petaling tahfiz school had undergone the first screening for Covid-19 and were ordered to be isolated by the health authorities, said Women and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Rina Harun (pic).
“The Malaysian Social Institute (ISM), which is a public training institute under the ministry, was gazetted as a quarantine station as of March 21.
“We have since then made all preparations with regard to accommodation, food, security, screening mechanisms and the rostering of officers from various agencies,” Rina said in a statement yesterday.
The first batch from the group arrived at noon yesterday and there are 80 people on duty at the quarantine station, including firemen, Rela personnel, police and sanitation experts from Radicare.
In a statement, the Fire and Rescue Department said 41 of its personnel members, led by Kuala Lumpur Fire and Rescue Department chief Nordin Pauzi helped moved the students from Madrasah Miftahul Ulum Sri Petaling as part of the Human Assistance Disaster Relief operation.
Operations commander Khairul Azuwan Ibrahim said the department’s Hazardous Material (Hazmat) team helped the students go through a disinfection process before they boarded buses to the quarantine facility.
The police, National Disaster Management Agency personnel and a facilities management company also assisted in the process.
“The students were sent to the centre in four buses with police escorts at around 2.20pm. They will stay at the centre under observation for 14 days,” Khairul said, adding that the students had been categorised as Patients Under Investigation (PUIs).
The buses were disinfected after the students arrived at the centre at around 2.35pm.
The students’ welfare will be managed by the Social Welfare Department and the Malaysia Civil Defence Force.
The department said work to disinfect the premises would be done in stages according to the instructions from local authorities.
The government has gazetted 409 quarantine stations involving government buildings nationwide as a preparation to cater for the possible spike in Covid-19 cases.
