PETALING JAYA: The Health Ministry (MoH) announced 39 new Covid-19 positive cases today, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 8,943 with no additional deaths reported.
Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, in a media statement said out of 39, 28 were through local transmission, where 22 of them are Malaysians and the rest are foreigners.
The largest number of cases reported are from Sarawak where 21 were infected, while five were from Kedah, and two were from Sabah.
Dr Noor Hisham further explained that these cases were from active clusters in Sarawak, namely, Sentosa (nine cases), Kejuruteraan Kuching (four cases) , Satok (four cases), Mambong (one case), PUI Melbourne (one case) , and two cases were detected after screening test conducted at the airport entrance and self check up.
Five cases were from new cluster detected today in Kedah, which is the PUI Sivagangga cluster, and two cases respectively were detected at the Women and Children Hospital and the Lahad Datu Hospital in Sabah.
Dr Noor Hisham said that the PUI Sivagangga India cluster emerged when a permanent resident who came back from India on July 13 failed to complete the home quarantine period.
“He did the first screening at the entrance gate of KLIA international airport but tested negative. But soon after he was caught for not complying to the home quarantine period, he did the second screening test and was found positive. He is now being treated at Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital in Kedah,“ he said.
Dr Noor Hisham added that MoH did tracing contact and due to the patient’s failure to adhere to the order, and five out of 28 of his close contacts were found to be infected.
“The patient from this new cluster is a restaurant owner where four of those infected were the patient’s foreign workers and another positive case was the patient’s family member whom all were reportedly living under a same roof,“ he said.
“The premise has been shut down for cleaning and disinfection process,“ he said.
He also mentioned another new cluster has been detected today in Kuching, Sarawak namely the Satok cluster where out of 229, four of them were positive after underwent the Covid-19 screening test at a market in Satok.
To date, only one patient is currently at the intensive care unit (ICU) and the patient also need a ventilator for breathing assistance.
There are 212 active cases currently being treated and the death toll remains at 124.
However he added six patients have received successful treatment and have been discharged today, bringing the total number of those who have recovered to 8,607 in the country.
