KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 1,019 positive COVID-19 cases involving 26 clusters from Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations were detected since May 13 to yesterday, said Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

Dr Noor Hisham said from the total, two deaths were reported to date and one case is receiving treatment in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

"From the screenings of 4,047 individuals, 1,019 cases were identified positive in these clusters which has a positive infectivity of 25.1 per cent," he said in a statement here today.

Elaborating further, Dr Noor Hisham said the states with the highest Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebration clusters were Sabah with seven clusters, Kelantan (5) as well as Johor, Melaka, Pahang, Selangor and the Federal Territory of Labuan with two clusters each .

The ministry is expecting the number of cases and clusters to increase and may involve more states and districts.

"Despite the government banning raya visits and festive gatherings, many ignored the order which resulted in new COVID-19 clusters emerging as well as fatalities," he said.

Therefore, he urged the people to take a lesson and not to repeat them for Kaamatan and Gawai festivals which would be celebrated soon as well as the Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebration which usually goes on for a month.

Dr Noor Hisham also reminded the people that the interstate and inter-district travel ban is still in effect.

He said 51 clusters from interstate travel involving 6,468 cases were detected since Dec 7 last year.

He stressed that cross district and state movements, visiting or festive gatherings should not have occurred at all during total lockdown from June 1 to June 14.

"Now is the time for us to act together to bring down the number of daily cases and deaths," he added.

In this regard, he said 23 new clusters were detected today bringing the total to 603 active clusters throughout the country.

It involved eight clusters in the workplace and community, six religious clusters and one cluster at a private higher education institution under the Education Ministry.

-- BERNAMA