Almost one in two tested positive for Covid-19 in Klang's Teratai cluster
COVID-19 | Almost one in every two people tested in the Teratai cluster, centred around Top Glove's factories in Klang, is turning out to be positive with Covid-19.
This is after Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah revealed that the cluster has a positive rate of 43.8 percent...
COVID-19 | Almost one in every two people tested in the Teratai cluster, centred around Top Glove's factories in Klang, is turning out to be positive with Covid-19.
This is after Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah revealed that the cluster has a positive rate of 43.8 percent.
Speaking at a press conference in Putrajaya, Noor Hisham said a total of 5,767 people in the cluster have been tested for Covid-19 and 2,524 of them returned a positive result.
Another 1,913 people are waiting for their test results.
Noor Hisham said Covid-19 patients in this cluster comprise 164 Malaysians and 2,360 non-citizens, most of whom are the glove maker's workers in Klang.
However, the virus has spread beyond the workers' circle. Those infected are as young as two years old. The oldest is 68.
“Seventy-one cases, that is 2.8 percent, were close contacts (of the factory workers) such as families and all.
“Twelve of the cases were detected not in the area but from close contacts,” Noor Hisham explained.
He said local workers may not be staying at the workers’ dormitories but at their own houses, which is how family members have been infected in the Teratai cluster.
“What happened was we carried out active close contact tracing and tightened the targeted enhanced movement control order (MCO) at the factories and the dormitories to carry out screening on about 13,000 workers involving the factories,” he said.
The cluster first came onto the authorities' radar on Nov 7 and has seen a steep spike in infections in recent days.
It recorded 1,067 new cases today alone, with 1,060 in Selangor.
Following the spike, the National Security Council today ordered all 28 of Top Glove factories in Klang to shut down in phases.
Noor Hisham said Top Glove's management has taken measures to isolate the close contacts of infected workers.
The area of Top Glove's workers' dormitories in Meru, Klang, has been under a lockdown since Nov 17.
Noor Hisham said the enhanced MCO there involves around 5,900 people.
However, he noted that Top Glove has over 13,000 employees working at 28 factories in Klang, including those who live outside of the lockdown area.
"The Klang District Health Department is working with the management to screen all workers," he added.
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