PETALING JAYA: The Health Ministry is beefing up its health intervention campaign in the northern states of the peninsula to stem the spread of Covid-19 linked to the Tawar cluster.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a statement today that the activities would be concentrated in Kedah as 85% of new cases are linked to Tawar.
Several new infections in neighbouring Penang and Perlis have also been linked to the Tawar cluster.
Noor Hisham said the activities would include case detection, stricter enforcement of the standard operating procedures (SOPs) as well as closure of schools and business premises for disinfection and sanitisation.
Those who have been in close contact with Covid-19 patients will also be screened.
The Tawar cluster has recorded 73 confirmed infections since the index case - a local man who is a trader - was discovered on Aug 12.
He said a total of 4,051 individuals from this cluster have been screened.
Noor Hisham also reported that nationwide, there were six new cases as of noon yesterday, and three of them were from the Tawar cluster.
Of the others, one was a foreigner who had just arrived from Singapore. Of the remaining two, one was detected at Hospital Sultanah Bahiyah in Alor Star and the other was found in a screening exercise on symptomatic patients. One of them is also a Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) patient.
This brings the national tally 9,291.
Noor Hisham added that there are now 188 active cases, with nine being treated in intensive care units. Six of them need respiratory assistance.
There were no new fatalities reported, he said, leaving the death toll at 125.
He added that seven patients have since been discharged, bringing the number of those who have recovered to 8,978.
