Adham: 13 clusters linked to interstate travel
KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 13 Covid-19 clusters involving interstate travel have been detected in the country since last month.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba said from the clusters linked to interstate travel, six detected in Melaka, Kelantan and Perak had originated from Selangor.
He said three more that emerged in Kelantan, Pahang and Melaka had originated from Kuala Lumpur.
“This includes the Kampung Bunut Sarang Burung cluster, which was detected in Kelantan.
“This cluster (Kampung Bunut Sarang Burung) had cases from the South African Covid-19 variant (B.1.351),” he said during the weekly press conference by the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force here yesterday.
Other Covid-19 clusters involving interstate travel, he said, included the Kabu cluster in Kedah that originated from Penang; Jalan Gapam Cluster in Negri Sembilan (from Melaka), Taman Rakyat Cluster in Terengganu (from Sabah) and Jalan Kesidang Cluster in Melaka (from Perak).
For Covid-19 sub-clusters linked to the community, Dr Adham said they emerged from transmissions by close contacts or among family members.
“These clusters emerged from funerals, engagements, weddings, festive ceremonies as well as those related to floods.
“There are also clusters that resulted from activities conducted at longhouses in Sarawak, such as gotong-royong, funerals and community activities,” he said.
The emergence of these clusters, he said, was why the government continued to enforce interstate travel restrictions.
“As such, a ban on all interstate travel will remain in force until May 17 or until a new date is announced.”
Dr Adham also noted that although the infectivity rate (r-value) had experienced a slight drop by 0.1 per cent between April 25 and May 1, it was not an indication that things were improving.
He said 21,342 cases were reported throughout the period with an average of 3,049 cases recorded daily, which brought the total number of cases to 411,594 as of May 1.
This translated to an increase of 22.7 per cent throughout the period.
The number of Covid-19 fatalities, he said, also significantly increased by 69.6 per cent throughout last week compared with the week before.
“A total of 95 total deaths were reported with an average of 14 deaths per day.”
Dr Adham said the same trend was detected in the number of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) cases related to Covid-19, which increased by 25.2 per cent last week compared with the previous week.
Meanwhile, he said the government was mulling to set up temporary field hospitals in Sarawak and Kelantan following the spike in cases as the country’s healthcare system enters a critical state. He said the ministry was engaging with the Defence Ministry on how to ease the burden on existing hospitals.
“Field hospitals will be able to accommodate the increasing number of cases. Hospitals are currently facing a surge of patients, especially in intensive care and the critical wards.
“On the whole, 35.4 per cent of patients were in Category 4 and 5 (severe) in May, compared with 25.2 per cent last month and 17.2 per cent in March,” he said.
Sarawak recorded 356 new Covid-19 cases yesterday, while Kelantan registered 401 cases.