Covid-19 cases jump to 103, new cluster detected

CORONAVIRUS | Malaysia recorded a spike of 103 Covid-19 cases today, including a new cluster involving a cleaning services company.

“The spike in new cases reported today is due to cases involving non-citizens. Of the 103, seven are imported cases that got infected abroad.

“Of the 96 cases of local transmission, 84 are non-Malaysian citizens whereby 53 are from the Pedas cluster and 24 from a janitorial services company cluster.

“Therefore, there are only 12 cases of local transmission involving Malaysians,” said Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah (above) at his daily press conference in Putrajaya.

The new cases bring the total number of Covid-19 cases in Malaysia to 7,732. No new deaths have been reported, thus the death toll remains at 115.

Of the 1,382 cases that are still active, eight are in intensive care units, including two that need ventilators.

There are 66 new cases that have recovered and were discharged as at noon today, bringing the total to 6,235 cases (80.6 percent).

Noor Hisham said the cleaning services cluster was detected by a private clinic when the patients were sent by their employer for testing.

Of the 150 workers tested, 126 got negative results.

For those who tested positive, 20 lived in a hostel in Kuala Langat and are now being treated at the Sungai Buloh hospital.

Another four who live in a flat in Nilai, Negeri Sembilan, are now being treated at the Tuanku Ja’afar Hospital in Seremban.

All 24 cases in this cluster involve Bangladeshi nationals.

Noor Hisham said 428 close contacts have been identified so far, and preventive measures are being taken including screening of all residents in affected areas and non-citizens who live in other housing units.

As for the Pedas cluster, Noor Hisham said the 54 new cases comprise one Malaysian while the rest are foreigners.

All 54 cases are close contacts of the 163 cases detected previously. They were already under quarantine after their first test returned negative results, but follow-up testing prior to their release returned positive results.

The single Malaysian case is a canteen worker at the factory.

This brings the total size of the Pedas cluster to 217 cases.

Three new cases were linked to the Pudu market cluster for a total of 75 cases, while one new case is linked to the Madrasah Sungai Salan cluster in Pahang for a total of 85 cases.

As for testing, Noor Hisham said Malaysia has the capacity to run 29,789 tests daily in 43 laboratories nationwide as of yesterday.

There were 22,237 tests conducted yesterday, representing about 75 percent of the country’s testing capacity.

A cumulative total of 4,277 rapid antigen tests have been conducted so far, of which 55 (1.2 percent) returned positive results.

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