KUANTAN, April 7 — The 30-year-old man who died at the Bentong police headquarters lock up on Sunday, believed to be due to breathing difficulties, did not die due to COVID-19.
Bentong police chief Supt Yusof Unis said COVID-19 tests conducted on him at the Bentong Hospital proved negative and this enabled a post-mortem to be done to determine the cause of death.
He said the post-mortem was done at the Tengku Ampuan Afzan Hospital here late yesterday and that his body was released to the next-of-kin thereafter.
“The post-mortem was not conclusive on the cause of death and we are awaiting the report on toxicology tests by the Chemistry Department and analysis of tissue samples by the pathologist, For now, the case is still classified as sudden death,” he told Bernama.
The media had reported that the man, who was detained on April 2 to assist investigations into a theft case, died at 1.10 am on Sunday, allegedly after experiencing breathing difficulty for about 20 minutes.
Yusof added that police had immediately isolated his cellmates after the incident as a precautionary measure in the wake of the spread of COVID-19 in the country.
— BERNAMA