COVID-19: Two new clusters detected - Health DG

The Health Ministry has detected two more new COVID-19 clusters - the Kurau Cluster in Penang and the Meranti Cluster in Putrajaya, said Health Director-General Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

He said the Kurau Cluster involved two positive cases with the first, case number 9,050, reported on Aug 7, while the second, case number 9,082, was the brother-in-law of case 9,050.

“He (the second case) was detected through active case detection, and close contact screening. Following this, his family in Penang have also been screened.

“On Aug 9, 2020 (today), he was detected as positive for COVID-19 while his family members who have been screened so far (five people) have been found negative,” Dr Noor Hisham said in a statement today.

Commenting further, he said to date, 115 close contacts have been screened with 106 found negative while nine more are waiting for the screening test results.

“Active detection and screening of close contacts are still being conducted,” he said.

On the Meranti Cluster, Dr Noor Hisham said the positive cases were detected yesterday when a health worker, case number 9,083, was found to be positive.

“The person had contact with case 8,968, which was a COVID-19 case detected through pre-surgery screening. Upon investigation, case 8,968 was found to have a history of getting treatment at the health facility where case 9,083 was working,” he said.

Dr Noor Hisham said the ministry was conducting close contact screening and active case detection activities with 15 individuals screened.

“The cause of the cluster infections is still being investigated,” he said.

-- BERNAMA