The Malaysian Insight

KUALA Lumpur wholesale market in Selayang has confirmed another 87 positive Covid-19 cases among the fishmongers, bringing the total number of new infections to 90 over the weekend.

More than 2,000 stall owners and their workers are currently taking the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rt-PCR) test with the results expected on Wednesday.

With this new outbreak, many smaller wet markets in the Klang Valley, which receive their supply from Selayang, have closed for a week for sanitisation.

Kuala Lumpur Vegetable Wholesalers Association president Wong Keng Fatt told The Malaysian Insight said there has been active screening of workers after the latest outbreak was reported.

“There are also some who were screened in private hospitals early this morning, so the results have already come out.”

A Facebook page called ‘Kuala Lumpur Seafood Wholesale Market’ (in Mandarin) announced last night that 44 people had contracted the virus.

According to the post, nearly 1,000 fish stall vendors and employees have been screened, and yesterday, more than 600 people were tested in the same laboratory.

Kuala Lumpur Hoi Seong Fish Wholesaler Association chairman Sing Kian Hock had said earlier that 43 confirmed cases were detected in the fish stall area.

With the addition of 44 new cases today, the number of confirmed cases has increased to 87. Three were tested positive from the vegetable section.

On Friday, the association informed fishmongers to close their stalls. The fish stall area was closed from yesterday and will only reopen at midnight on Friday.

In April last year, several residential areas from the market were placed under complete lockdown, after a cluster emerged among foreign workers. The area around the wholesale wet market is densely populated by migrant workers and some refugees. – January 18, 2021.