KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 65 or 41.1% out of the 158 active Covid-19 clusters are related to the workplace, said Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah (pix).
He said that out of the 5,681 positive cases from these workplace-related clusters, 3,369 (59.3%) were Malaysians and 2,312 (40.7%) were foreigners.
“This is the result of the employers taking proactive action by carrying out Covid-19 screening of their workers. The Ministry of Health (MOH) is thankful and would like to express its appreciation to the employers in jointly assisting to detect positive cases among their workforce.
“This measure has managed to curb the spread of Covid-19 in the community and subsequently help the MOH in carrying out public health activities. This has helped protect high-risk individuals, senior citizens and children from being infected,” he said at his daily media briefing on Covid-19 today.
Dr Noor Hisham also urged workers to always comply with the standard operating procedures (SOPs) and practise good personal hygiene to curb Covid-19 infection at workplaces.
“Employers and workers must ensure that workplace and common areas, such as toilets, kitchens and pantries, are always clean and safe in order to break the chain of Covid-19 infections.
“Apart from that, employers are also reminded to ensure that their workers follow the SOP, including at their dorms because those living in crowded and confined hostel spaces have a higher risk of being infected,” he said.
Commenting on the four new clusters identified today, Dr Noor Hisham said the Bonggaya Cluster in Sandakan, Sabah involved an index case who was detected through community screening on Oct 27 and admitted to the Duchess of Kent Hospital.
Close contact screening then detected 45 more new cases and all have been admitted to the Covid-19 Low-Risk Quarantine and Treatment Centre at the Sibuga Sports Complex in Sandakan.
He said that the second cluster, the Jambatan B Cluster, also in Sandakan, involved an index case identified through symptomatic individual screening on Oct 17.
“Close contact and community screening found another 52 positive cases and all have been admitted to the Duchess of Kent Hospital and the Covid-19 Low-Risk Quarantine and Treatment Centre at the Sibuga Sports Complex,” he said.
The Abell Cluster in Kuching, Sarawak, he said, involved an index case who tested positive on Nov 10, with 13 more cases detected through close contact screening and all have been admitted to the Sarawak General Hospital.
The BMU Cluster, meanwhile, was identified in Jasin, Melaka, with the index case detected through symptomatic individual screening and has been admitted to the Melaka Hospital.
“Close contact screening found nine more positive cases,” he said.
Dr Noor Hisham also announced that the Selasih Cluster (Putrajaya), Bah Pengkalan Cluster (Perak) and Bah Pasir Cluster (Negeri Sembilan and Putrajaya) were declared over today. — Bernama
