Friday 29 Mar 2024
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This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on March 3, 2020

KUALA LUMPUR: UDA Holdings Bhd chairman Datuk Hisham Hamdan has tested positive for Covid-19, which has led the ministry of entrepreneur development and cooperatives (Medac) to undertake medical checks on its senior officers.

According to a circular by Medac secretary-general Datuk Wan Suraya Wan Mohd Radzi, the ministry of health has advised Wan Suraya and two other senior officers to be quarantined for 14 days.

To ensure continued smooth daily operations at Medac, the ministry has designated Datin Dr Syahira Hamidon to be in charge of the entire ministry and the primary industries sector, Abkari Abdullah as the head of the development sector and Ismail Mohamed Yusof as the head of management.

“However, the officers that have been designated will have to refer to their respective supervisors before any decision can be made, especially for matters relating to the ministry,” said the circular.

In a separate statement, UDA confirmed that its chairman has been diagnosed with Covid-19 and is being treated at a government hospital.

“We are working closely with the ministry of health and the management of our office premises, including AnCasa Hotel Kuala Lumpur, in undertaking the necessary measures and precautions to ensure the health and safety of all our employees and those around them,” it said.

This includes identifying those who had come into close contact with the employees, it added.

It also said there have been no reports of Covid-19 cases in AnCasa Hotel so far.

In a related announcement, Subang member of Parliament Wong Chen said he is placing himself in quarantine yesterday and today following news that a staff member of Khazanah Nasional Bhd had come down with Covid-19 and was in touch with an ex-minister and an ex-deputy minister about a week ago.

In his Facebook post yesterday, Wong said he will quarantine himself until the test results of the former minister and former deputy minister are out.

“Tests are being conducted on the ex-minister and ex-deputy minister. The ex-minister and ex-deputy minister have attended many political meetings during the week-long crisis,” he wrote.

“In view of the fact that the Khazanah Covid-19 victim was in touch with an ex-minister and a deputy minister about a week ago, we have to take extra precautions,” wrote Wong.

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