PETALING JAYA: The Health Ministry reported 21 new Covid-19-positive cases as of 12pm today, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 8,861.
“Out of that number, there are 161 active cases being treated in the hospital, with five cases being admitted in the intensive care unit (ICU) and two needing ventilation assistance,“ said Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah (pix) in a press statement today.
He also said three patients have successfully received treatment and been discharged, bringing the total number of recoveries to 8,577.
Noor Hisham also said there were no fatalities reported, maintaining the death toll at 123.
He also said out of the 21 new cases reported, five were import cases from overseas and 16 were from local transmissions.
Of the 16, 13 cases involved locals while the rest involved foreigners. The five import cases involved two foreigners and three Malaysians coming back from Singapore, Australia, the Philippines, Pakistan and Qatar.
Meanwhile, Noor Hisham said three new clusters were detected today. The first being the Elsa cluster, then PUI Ramnad and PUI Al Khobar (Selangor).
“The index case of the Elsa cluster is a foreigner who is part of a ship crew. The patient had taken a plane from the Philippines and transitted in South Korea. The patient entered Malaysia on July 16 to start work,“ he said.
The screening test taken in the Philippines on July 14 was reported negative, and the patient then took a flight to Kuantan where he stayed one night in a hotel there, before he was brought onto the ship to undergo quarantine after getting approval from the Sea Department.
“Five days later, on July 20, the index case started developing symptoms. The patient was detected positive on July 22 and was admitted to Hospital Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah, Pahang,“ he said.
Then, contact tracing was conducted and as many as 108 people were screened. Three people (two foreigners and one Malaysian) were found positive, 48 negative, with 57 still awaiting results.
For the PUI Ramnad cluster, the index is a Malaysian who returned to the country from India on July 6. The patient was screened negative, and was under the Home Surveillance Order, and experienced light symptoms on July 19.
“The patient’s screening on the 13th day returned positive and the patient was admitted to the Sungai Buloh Hospital,“ he said.
Contact tracing and investigation were then conducted, and 18 involving six family members and 12 flight passengers were subsequently screeed.
“Of this number, two from the family members were found positive, 13 negative, with three still awaiting results,“ he said.
For the PUI Al Khobar cluster, it started with a Malaysian returning home from Saudi Arabia on July 10. The screening at the airport returned negative, and he was under home quarantine together with five other family members at their family home.
“They had all returned from Saudi Arabia together on the same flight, and two other family members were in the family home,“ said Noor Hisham.
The index case started experiencing symptoms on July 18 and was found positive on July 20. Seven other family members were then screened and it was found that one was positive and six others negative.
“Contact tracing and investigation are continuing as authorities try to track down others who shared the same flight with this index case,“ he said.
He said that these local transmissions all came from overseas, and urged those undergoing home quarantine to follow all standard operating procedure as well as following the guidelines and use the Home Assessment Tool.
