The Ministry of Health (MOH) has detected a new cluster involving health personnel at three hospitals in Sabah, said Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

He said the three hospitals were the Queen Elizabeth 2 Hospital; Women and Children’s Hospital, Likas; and Keningau Hospital.

He said that as of today (April 18), 31 cases had been identified to be COVID-19 positive under the cluster, including two new cases reported today.

“All the patients are still undergoing treatment. This cluster comprises 23 health personnel and eight family members or members of the public.

“This cluster was detected when the results of a COVID-19 test on a Queen Elizabeth 2 Hospital staff came out positive on April 2,” he said at the daily press conference on COVID-19 here today.

Dr Noor Hashim explained that the personnel was not well and showed symptoms of cough and flu on the particular day (April 2).

“Investigations and screenings for the personnel’s contacts were carried out and some of his co-workers and family members were found to be COVID-19 positive.

“All 31 cases are still warded and in stable condition. None of them were infected while handling COVID-19 patients,” he said.

The detection of the new cluster brings the total number of COVID-19 clusters and sub-clusters currently in the country at over 30.

As of today, the four biggest clusters detected were the BBIM cluster (183 cases); church conference cluster (132); executive cluster (121); and Sungai Lui Madrasah cluster (128).

-- BERNAMA