GEORGE TOWN: Another positive Covid-19 case involving a prisons officer has been reported at the Seberang Prai prison in Jawi on Sunday.
The latest case brings to two the number of active cases involving officers in the prison.
Seberang Prai prison director Zulkifli Abdul Manah said the two officers had worked in the same new block with inmates who had before this tested positive.
"The second officer was confirmed positive yesterday, and until now, the two officers are being treated at the Penang Hospital. They were in the same prison block as the new inmates sent to the prison, who were tested positive for Covid-19.
"Health workers have carried out screening (for Covid-19) on close contacts of the two officers, who are staying in the prison quarters.
"For now, results of close contact screening for the first officer have came back negative. We are awaiting results of close contact screening for the second officer," he said.
Zulkifli said some 384 officers and staff at the prison had been screened for Covid-19, and only two were found positive.
He said the rest would undergo a second round of screening soon.
Meanwhile, Zulkifli said some 70 inmates, who were recently sent to the prison to undergo their sentences and placed in a new block, had been confirmed positive for the virus, adding that none of the old inmates were tested positive.
He said there were some 700 new inmates in the block and all had been isolated from the old inmates to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Of the total, half of them had been screened.
"Besides, we have also prepared a block for treatment and another for recovery. All those infected with the virus are reported to be in a stable condition