Malaysian family infected with Covid-19 Delta variant despite staying at home

[superadmin]

Malaysian family infected with Covid-19 Delta variant despite staying at home since April

KUALA LUMPUR - Madam Noriah Bakar and her family have largely been in self-imposed isolation at home since April this year.

Despite this, the 36-year-old said her husband and two sons tested positive for the Delta variant of the coronavirus last week, as Malaysia struggled to contain a resurgence in Covid-19 infections in the country.

A record high of 11,618 new cases were reported on Wednesday (July 14), bringing the cumulative total so far to 867,567. On Tuesday, the country reported 11,079 new cases, the first time daily infections surpassed the five-figure mark.

"We're dumbfounded because since mid-April, my husband has only been out once to collect work documents, and I only left the house twice about three weeks ago for my vaccination appointment and to buy bread," the homemaker from Subang Jaya, in the state of Selangor, told The Straits Times.

"We rely heavily on online services for groceries despite it costing a lot of money, so we can't think of what we did wrong," she added.

Malaysia's health chief Noor Hisham Abdullah warned on Tuesday that the number of new cases could increase over the next two weeks as the highly infectious Delta variant, which can be easily transmitted by air, has been detected in almost every state.

- More -