Deputy minister infected with Covid-19

Haspaizi Zain
·2-min read
Deputy minister infected with Covid-19
Deputy minister infected with Covid-19

COVID-19 | A deputy minister has been infected with Covid-19, a senior aide to Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi confirmed to Malaysiakini.

The aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the deputy minister is Umno senator Ahmad Masrizal Muhammad.

Masrizal is also the deputy environment and water minister. He was also the former political secretary to Zahid.

He is among a wave of people getting infected with Covid-19 after visiting Sabah.

Masrizal had been in Sabah campaigning for BN in the state election which took place on Sept 26.

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.

As news of Masrizal's positive test result broke, a netizen had since compiled several photos from Instagram that show the politician at several events in Sabah without wearing a face mask.

Facebook user Mohd Aidiel said of the photos: "Deputy environment minister has been confirmed to be positive with Covid-19. When we look at his activities in Sabah recently he did not wear a face mask."

Among the photos were several taken at a ministry event in Kampung Teguli, Putatan on Sept 17, and the ministry's Malaysia Day celebration in Likas on Sept 16.

Meanwhile, Malay daily Berita Harian contacted Masrizal, where he confirmed he has been admitted to the Sungai Buloh Hospital for Covid-19 since Thursday.

According to the news report, he said his first swab test done upon arrival from Sabah returned with a negative result.

"I did the test once again last Wednesday because I was planning to go to the office on Monday. I was then tested positive although I did not show any symptoms.

"I was then admitted to Sungai Buloh Hospital since Thursday, and Alhamdulillah (thank God) I'm fine. Since the first test, I did not show any sign of fever or cough," he was quoted as saying.

Masrizal added that he had been in home quarantine since his return from Sabah.

According to him, during the Sabah state election, he was involved in a campaign ceramah with a senior Umno leader, who was later tested positive for the virus.

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