FIVE COVID-19 CLUSTERS DETECTED
3 involve workplace infections in Selangor and Johor, 2 are in Melaka and Sabah
FIVE new Covid-19 clusters were detected by the Health Ministry yesterday with three involving workplace infections among construction and factory workers in Selangor and Johor.
The two new clusters in Melaka and Sabah are linked to transmissions in the community and a detention centre, said Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
He said the Jalan Kenangan Construction Site Cluster at Pekan Meru KU/8 in Klang had so far recorded 31 positive cases among its workers after a targeted screening, which started yesterday.
A total of 121 workers were screened, he said.
In Batu Pahat, Johor, the Teknologi Tenggara Cluster emerged after the foreigner, Index Case 312,773, tested positive in a Covid-19 test taken prior to leaving the country.
Up to yesterday, 146 people have been tested where 12 have been infected,
The Jalan Masyhur Enam Cluster in the Johor Baru district detected 52 infections among factory workers following a targeted screening.
The testing on 173 workers started on Tuesday at the premises located in Jalan Masyhur 6, Taman Perindustrian Cemerlang in Ulu Tiram.
In Melaka, the Machap Umboo Immigration Detention Depot Cluster has so far detected 83 positive cases.
The cluster involves detainees at the centre in Jalan Alor GajahSelandar, Kampung Permai in Alor Gajah, where pre-departure screenings were conducted on Feb 20 before they leave the country.
In Sabah, the Jambatan Satu Bombalai Cluster involves a community living in the Kalabakan district where 15 people have contracted the disease.
Dr Noor Hisham said the Index Case 296,950 was reported positive on Feb 27 after an symptomatic individual screening.
The name of the cluster derived from the residential locality of the index case at Kampung Jambatan 1, Bombalai.
To date, 41 individuals were screened.
Dr Noor Hisham said Malaysia yesterday recorded 1,647 new Covid-19 positive cases up to noon, bringing the tally to 319,364.
Of the new infections, five were imported cases involving three Malaysians and two foreigners. Of the 1,642 local transmissions, 1,102 are Malaysians.
“Selangor reported the highest daily cases with 712, 619 of which are from clusters and test results of Covid-19 patients with close contacts that are being actively conducted on the ground.”
Meanwhile, nine people, all Malaysians, died of the virus yesterday: Selangor (4), Johor (2), Perak (1), Kelantan (1) and Kuala Lumpur (1), raising the death toll to 1,200.
The deceased were five women and four men, aged between 48 and 78, who had underlying health conditions such as diabetes, heart and kidney diseases, high blood pressure and stroke.
Dr Noor Hisham also said 2,104 patients recovered from Covid-19 while the active infectivity rate was 17,544.
Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, in a statement, said up to 9,614 foreign workers out of 603,597 who had undergone the mandatory Covid-19 screening tested positive for the virus.
“On Wednesday, 114 foreign workers were found to have been infected in a test conducted on 4,807 of them.
“Cumulatively, the Human Resources Ministry informed that 603,597 foreign workers under 31,466 employers had undergone the test. The rest were confirmed negative,” he said of the compulsory test enforced from Feb 1.
On violations of the Recovery and Conditional Movement Control Orders, Ismail Sabri said 242 people were detained yesterday where 240 were served with compounds and two others remanded.