PETALING JAYA: The Health Ministry announced seven new positive Covid-19 cases as of 12pm today, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 9,219.
Health director-general Tan Sri Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said in his briefing today that out of the seven, four were imported cases involving two Malaysians and two foreigners while the remaining three were locally transmitted cases among Malaysians detected in Kedah.
“These four new locally transmitted cases among Malaysians were detected in Kedah where two cases contributed to the Sala cluster and the other two were from Tawar cluster,“ he said.
Dr Noor Hisham further explained the while the cause of infections in Tawar and Sala cluster are still under investigation however the spread of infection in the Tawar cluster found to derive from the mass gathering among the family members who failed to adhere to the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
For Sala cluster, the index case had the history of visiting a patient in a hospital with the patient’s family members, although there was no record of new cases at the respective hospital.
However, he said the family members who went with the index case to visit the patient tested positive.
“It is feared that the practice of visiting the hospital may contribute to the spread of infection as there are many patients in the hospital that may contribute to the risk of getting contracted with the virus,“ he said.
“If there is an urgent need to visit the sick patients in the hospital, ensure that precautions are practiced at all times like wearing facemaks during the visit period and safe physical distancing of at least one meter from the patient or individual with symptoms are necessary,“ he added.
To date, the total number of Tawar and Sala clusters are 47 and eight, respectively.
There are 192 active cases currently being treated and the death toll remains at 125.
He said eight patients are currently at the intensive care unit (ICU), with two of them requiring ventilators for breathing assistance.
Dr Noor Hisham added 26 patients have received successful treatment and have been discharged today, bringing the total number of those who have recovered to 8,902.
