New ‘restaurant’ cluster found in KL

PUTRAJAYA: A new Covid-19 cluster has been detected in Kuala Lumpur which has three confirmed cases and is linked to a restaurant in Titiwangsa.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the first two cases were the restaurant’s foreign workers, aged 26 and 27, who tested positive on Aug 16.

“The two cases were detected from random screening conducted on eateries located around Kuala Lumpur’s city centre.

“The ministry then traced the close contacts of the two which led us to a 42-year-old Malaysian woman who is a customer of the restaurant.

“She had symptoms of sore throat and headache since Aug 17 and was admitted to the Sungai Buloh Hospital,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Dr Noor Hisham said a total of 672 individuals had been screened, including 16 employees and 656 customers.

“So far, only the three cases are positive infections linked to this cluster, while another 669 individuals have tested negative.

“Active case detection and close contact tracing are still ongoing,” he said, adding that the three cases were among the nine new infections reported in Malaysia.

Three other cases which were reported in Kedah were linked to the Tawar cluster, currently the biggest active Covid-19 cluster in the country, with a total of 2,733 individuals related to the cluster screened as of yesterday.

The total number of cases under the cluster is now 58, spanning three generations. Most of the cases were found in Kedah (47) followed by Penang (11).

So far, all patients related to the Tawar cluster are still under treatment. The cluster had overtaken the Sivagangga cluster which has 45 confirmed cases. Only 15 are active cases currently.

Dr Noor Hisham said there were also four imported cases involving non-Malaysians who arrived from the Philippines, Austria, Indonesia and India.

He said one local transmission case was detected in Sarawak after a foreigner tested positive during a screening meant for those exiting the country.

“The case had no symptoms and is currently being treated at the Sarawak General Hospital,” he said.