The VIPs who brought the coronavirus back from Sabah
COVID-19 | The Covid-19 situation slid to its worst level yesterday as the country recorded the highest number of infected patients under treatment since the start of the pandemic in January.
Minutes after Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah announced the record-breaking figures on live television - 691 new cases and 2,936 patients under treatment - Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin took to the air to address the deteriorating situation.
There has been a backlash against politicians, who some blame for purportedly not taking enough precaution during the Sabah election and later bringing the coronavirus back to their home states.
Muhyiddin was mindful of this in his speech, making a point to emphasise how he had taken precautions while campaigning in Sabah and expressing disappointment at the fact that some had still managed to get infected.
On social media, the hashtag #KlusterMenteri (minister cluster) gained traction. Although not an actual cluster recognised by the Health Ministry, it is being used to present people in power who got infected with Covid-19.
There is a perception of double standards where quarantine rules purportedly apply only to ordinary citizens, but not to those in power - something that Muhyiddin made a point to deny in his live address.
This perception was fuelled by images of politicians making public appearances after returning from Sabah, which has, since early September, become the new epicentre of Covid-19.
In fairness, it was more to do with the Health Ministry's policy than the flouting of rules as it did not mandate Covid-19 test and quarantine until Sept 27. So, anyone arriving from Sabah before then was free to move about.
From Sept 27 onwards, everyone arriving from Sabah was given a swab test, tagged with a pink bracelet and had to undergo home quarantine.
A common misconception was that the home quarantine was for 14 days. It is not. The pink bracelet is removed, marking the end of the home quarantine order, as soon as the swab test results return negative, which only takes a few days.
Criticism against this policy had been raised several times, but the authorities pointed out that even though many arrived by flights from Sabah, it is not considered overseas travel and the government had never, at any point of the pandemic, imposed a 14-day quarantine rule on interstate travel.
This meant that some travellers from Sabah slipped through the cracks. Some politicians did the bare minimum as required by regulations while others took extra precaution to self-isolate for longer.
Malaysiakini takes a look a look at who are the VIPs in the latest Covid-19 wave and how they conducted themselves.
Umno supreme council leader Mohd Razlan Rafii
The first sign of trouble began on Sept 20, a week into the Sabah election campaign which began on Sept 12.
Word from the political grapevine was that Razlan had tested positive for Covid-19. Razlan, when contacted, confirmed this.
Just a day before, he had uploaded images on Instagram showing him campaigning for BN's Sindumin candidate Sani Miasin at a market in Sipitang, Sabah, without wearing a face mask. He has since deleted the post.
On the day of Razlan's (above) diagnosis, the country reported 52 new Covid-19 cases and 734 patients under treatment.
Cases in Sabah have been growing after an outbreak at Tawau prison managed to escape into the community.
More worrying was the fact that most cases at the time were concentrated in the east coast of Sabah. Razlan caught the infection on the west coast of the state.
Umno Youth deputy chief Shahril Hamdan
Shahril was confirmed to be Covid-19 positive on Sept 23, after returning to Kuala Lumpur.
Prior to his infection, Shahril had been campaigning in Tawau, where the state's biggest Covid-19 outbreak was taking place.
To his credit, he took initiative to get himself tested before more stringent Covid-19 screening kicked in on Sept 27.
Shahril also took initiative to publicly announce his infection on social media and apologised for inconveniencing his close contacts.
The Health Ministry does not reveal the identities of an infected person due to privacy reasons but advocacy groups such as Gerakan Media Geramm (Geramm) have argued that public figures should publicly reveal themselves so that the many people who have been in contact with them can take precautions.
BN Pitas candidate Sufian Abdul Karim
Sufian was the first election candidate to become infected with Covid-19.
He had been campaigning in Pitas, which falls within the Kudat district in northern Sabah.
At the time, the Covid-19 outbreaks in Tawau and Lahad Datu had progressed across the east coast of Sabah, including Sandakan, the division neighbouring Kudat.
Sufian announced his infection on social media on polling day (Sept 26) and apologised to those who had assisted him during the campaign.
Ayer Limau assemblyperson Amiruddin Yusof
Amiruddin departed from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Sept 24 and helped BN campaign in Karambunai, a short distance away from Kota Kinabalu, on Sept 25.
He returned to Malacca on Sept 28 and in line with the updated screening measures that kicked in a day earlier, was given a swab test and tagged with a pink bracelet for home quarantine, pending results.
Strangely, Amiruddin was released from quarantine on Sept 29 and on Sept 30, he proceeded with his routine activities including a visit to Kompleks Seri Negeri, the state's administrative headquarters.
Amiruddin later claimed that there had been a lapse by the Alor Gajah Health Department, which had wrongly informed him that his swab test result was negative.
Amiruddin told Astro Awani that he had contacted the district Health Department on Sept 29 and was told to pay them a visit to remove his pink bracelet as his result was negative. He complied and the bracelet was removed.
The BN lawmaker said it was only on Sept 30 evening that he was informed that there had been a mistake and his result was actually positive. By then he had visited several places.
This caused the Malacca government leadership, including Chief Minister Sulaiman Md Ali, to undergo Covid-19 tests. The state administrative building was also shut down for sanitisation.
Lunas assemblyperson Azman Nasrudin
Details about Azman's infection have mostly come from second-hand sources as he has not, to date, gone public about it.
His infection only became public knowledge when some 600 students at SK Permatang Janggus in Penang were asked to undergo a Covid-19 test after their teacher had been infected with Covid-19.
It turned out that the teacher was Azman's spouse. Azman is also a state executive councillor in the Kedah government.
Kedah Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor, on the same day, confirmed a member of his exco had tested positive for Covid-19.
From social media posts, it can be established that Azman had been campaigning for Perikatan Nasional in Kalabakan, a district within the division of Tawau, between Sept 19 and Sept 21.
He was back in Kedah handing out free tables and chairs to a mosque in his constituency on Sept 23. There was no testing or quarantine requirement at the time.
Azman was formerly a PKR assemblyperson who later defected to Bersatu. He was among two assemblypersons who facilitated the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan-led Kedah government in May.
Deputy Minister Ahmad Masrizal Muhammad
News about the deputy environment and water minister's infection first surfaced on Oct 3.
He had been campaigning for the BN in the Kota Kinabalu area.
Among the events he attended was a gotong-royong (clean-up) event on Sept 25 at Tanjung Lipat beach in Kota Kinabalu where he campaigned for BN's Likas candidate Chang Kee Ying.
The senator told The Star that he returned from Sabah on Oct 1 and had tested negative for Covid-19, but was later admitted to Sungai Buloh Hospital after developing symptoms.
Minister Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri
The infection of this minister in the Prime Minister's Department is the most high-profile case to date.
Zulkifli publicly announced his infection on social media and apologised on Oct 5.
He had been handing out aid in Tuaran, on the west coast of Sabah, on Sept 24 and attended a slew of public functions after returning from Sabah, which Malaysiakini has detailed here.
Zulkifli also caused the prime minister, seven ministers and six deputy ministers and the Health Ministry director-general to undergo quarantine after attending a Covid-19 meeting with them on Oct 3.
Kampung Tunku assemblyperson Lim Yi Wei
Lim took to social media on Oct 5 and announced that she had tested positive for Covid-19 and apologised.
Lim had been campaigning in Bingkor, in the interior region of Sabah, from Sept 20.
She returned to Selangor on Sept 27 and as per the updated SOP guidelines that came into effect on the same day, Lim was given a swab test and tagged with a pink bracelet.
The DAP lawmaker said she contacted the Petaling District Health Department on Sept 30 and was told to pay them a visit to have her bracelet removed as she had tested negative.
However, Lim said she was experiencing some symptoms and was asked to take a second swab test on Oct 2. Finally, on Oct 5, she was informed that she was positive for Covid-19.
Lim said she had self-isolated herself throughout the period.
Kota Damansara assemblyperson Shatiri Mansor
Shatiri made public his infection in a video message on Oct 5, the same day he was informed of his diagnosis.
Shatiri, his wife and other volunteers helped to campaign for PKR in the state seat of Api-Api in Kota Kinabalu, from Sept 22.
They arrived at Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA2) on Sept 27 and in line with updated guidelines, were given swab tests and underwent home quarantine pending results.
On Sept 30, they were informed that his wife had tested positive and she was sent to Sungai Buloh Hospital but Shatiri himself tested negative.
As he was now a close contact of a Covid-19 patient, his wife, Shatiri was required to undergo a second Covid-19 test on Oct 2. He was confirmed to be Covid-19 positive on Oct 5.
Shatiri said they had been under home quarantine throughout the period.
Maharani assemblyperson Nor Hayati Bachok
Nor Hayati had campaigned for Amanah in the state seat of Tanjung Keramat, a short distance away from Kota Kinabalu.
She returned from Sabah on Sept 26 and a Covid-19 test returned negative.
Nor Hayati, in a statement through her service centre, said she continued to self-isolate even though there was no directive from the Health Ministry at the time.
She took a second Covid-19 test on Oct 4 and was confirmed to be positive on Oct 5.
Her service centre announced her infection on social media the following day, on Oct 6.
- Mkini
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