KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia today recorded 11 new clusters, the highest number so far, with four of these involving workplaces in the federal capital, Selangor and Pahang.
Health director-general, Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the four were the Tapak Bina Jalan Seng, Plastik Subang, Jalan Asam and Semambu clusters which were identified through targeted screening at these workplaces.
“The Tapak Bina Jalan Seng cluster involves the Titiwangsa area in Kuala Lumpur with 232 Covid-19 positive cases detected on Dec 25 at a construction site out of the 407 individuals screened.
“The Plastik Subang involves the Petaling and Klang districts in Selangor with 111 cases found to be positive on Dec 23 at a factory out of the 354 individuals screened,” he said in his statement today on the Covid-19 developments.
The Jalan Asam cluster involves the same two districts when the positive cases began to be detected on Dec 19 through targeted screening at a factory involving 713 individuals, out of whom 13 were found to be positive.
“The Semambu cluster involves Kuantan district in Pahang with case number 89,021 being the index case. Working at a supermarket, the victim was reported to be positive on Dec 17 through screening for symptoms on 47 individuals, with 11 cases detected to be positive in this cluster,” he said.
Dr Noor Hisham said seven other clusters were Pagar Siput and Sungai Redan in Johor; Halban and Seragam Chepa in Kelantan; Putih and Sentosa Residensi in Penang; and Pagar Bentong in Pahang.
“The Pagar Siput cluster involves Kota Tinggi district with the index case (100,106th) reported to be positive on Dec 24 via screening of 200 individuals with symptoms, out of whom, 129 were detected to be positive for the viral infection.
“The Sungai Redan cluster involves Kluang and Kota Tinggi districts, Johor when the index case (No. 98,482) with severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) was reported to be positive on Dec 23. Out of the 93 individuals screened, 11 were found to be positive for Covid-19 in this cluster.
“The Halban cluster involves Kota Bharu district while the Seragam Chepa cluster also involves Kota Bharu and the districts of Bachok and Tumpat in Kelantan.
“The index case (No. 98,731) in the Halban cluster was reported to be positive on Dec 23 through close contact screening of 99 individuals with 29 of them detected to be positive.
“For the Seragam Chepa cluster, the 97,386th case was reported to be positive on Dec 22 through screening of 430 individuals with symptoms, out of whom, 13 were detected to be positive,” he said.
Dr Noor Hisham said the Putih cluster involved the Northeast district and the Sentosa Residensi cluster, the Northeast, Southwest, North Seberang Perai and Central Seberang Perai districts in Penang.
“The index case (No. 74,130) for the Putih cluster has SARI and reported to positive for Covid-19 on Dec 7 out of the 128 individuals screened, with 24 of them found to be positive.
“With regard to the Sentosa Residensi cluster, the index case (98,518th) was reported to be positive on Dec 23 via screening of 81 individuals with symptoms, out of whom, 18 were positive.
“The index case (71,314th) in the Pagar Bentong cluster, Pahang was reported to be positive on Dec 5 through screening of 79 detainees with 13 of them detected to be positive,” he added.
Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham noted that the Tapak Bina Jalan Seng cluster had recorded the highest number of additional new cases, with 232, followed by the Tampoi Jaya cluster (218) and Penjara Jalan Harapan cluster (156).
-Bernama
