The Health Ministry (MOH) has detected a new COVID-19 cluster, this time in Labu Lanjut, Sepang, where five positive cases have been confirmed so far, Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said.

He said the index case involved a patient who had been treated for Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI) at Serdang hospital before being tested positive for the virus on June 5.

"Active Case Detection (ACD) activities found that the patient's two children and two grandchildren had also tested positive. Three of them stay at the same house while the other lives elsewhere," Dr Noor Hisham said in a statement here today.

He said 29 close contacts have been identified and screened of whom 25 tested negative for the virus.

The source of infection is being investigated, although the ministry suspects it could have been from visitation activity, he added.

On the latest figures, Dr Noor Hisham said 21 COVID-19 new cases were reported today, bringing the overall tally to 8,556 cases.

"Of the 21, two are import cases who got infected abroad, involving a Malaysian and a foreigner with permanent resident status," he said.

"Of the 19 local transmissions, seven involve non-citizens while 12 more are Malaysians," he said.

This latest development meant that there are 289 COVID-19 infectivity cases at the moment, Dr Noor Hisham said.

Recovery and discharge cases continue to show positive trends, with 76 cases reported overnight, bringing the total number of recoveries to 8,146 or 95.2 percent of the case tally.

-- BERNAMA