COVID-19 weekly round-up: 188 active clusters contribute to positive cases

KUALA LUMPUR: Existing active and new clusters are the chief contributors to the daily spike in new COVID-19 cases in Malaysia.

During the week under review, new daily cases mostly hovered around four-digit figures. As of today, there are 188 active clusters with 49 of them reporting new cases. A total of 193 clusters have ended so far.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah today announced eight new clusters in Kuala Lumpur, Johor, Pahang, Perak, Selangor and Kelantan. The new clusters reported a total of 104 cases.

Among the most dominant clusters that are pushing up daily cases to over 1,000 is the Teratai cluster, first announced by the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Nov 7 with 74 positive cases.

This cluster involved Top Glove Corporation Bhd factory workers in the districts of Klang, Kuala Selangor, Petaling and Hulu Langat.

The steep hike in cases forced the government to enforce an Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) on Nov 17 at the workers’ hostels in Meru, Klang. On Nov 25, the government ordered 28 Top Glove factories to halt their operations temporarily.

The highest number of COVID-19 infections reported by this cluster was 1,511 on Nov 24. The same day, Malaysia recorded a record total of 2,188 new cases nationwide.

On Tuesday (Dec 1), the Teratai cluster accounted for 778 of the 891 new cases reported in Selangor. On Wednesday, Dr Noor Hisham said the cluster has already spread to the community outside the Top Glove workers’ hostels.

He told a media briefing that MOH has detected 150 infections in the community that were linked to the Teratai cluster.

Top Glove has a workforce of 11,125. Its management has been ordered to carry out screening on 2,263 workers who do not reside in the hostels or quarters provided by the company. As of now, out of the 6,609 individuals screened, 5,083 tested positive for COVID-19.

For the record, during the week under review (Nov 28-Dec 4), a total of 32 new clusters have emerged – today eight, yesterday four, Wednesday five, Tuesday two, Monday three, Sunday four and Saturday six.

DAILY CASES, OTHER RELATED CASES

Over the 24-hour period up to noon today, 1,141 new COVID-19 cases were reported, bringing the cumulative number of infections in the country to 70,236.

On the global front, Malaysia has overtaken Singapore to occupy the 83nd spot in the list of countries swept by the pandemic. Singapore is on the 86th spot (last week 83rd) with 58,242 cases and 29 fatalities.

As of today, Malaysia’s active cases stood at 10,799. The breakdown for this week’s new cases is as follows: yesterday 1,075, Wednesday 851, Tuesday 1,472, Monday 1,212, Saturday 1,309 and Sunday 1,315.

Recoveries remained high with 1,144 patients discharged today, bringing Malaysia’s total number of recovered cases to 59,061 (83.8 percent of total COVID-19 cases).

The breakdown for this week’s recovered cases is as follows: yesterday 948, Wednesday 658, Tuesday 1,552, Monday 2,112, Sunday 1,333 and Saturday 1,110.

No deaths were reported today and the death toll remains at 376.

The breakdown for this week’s deaths is as follows: yesterday 11, Wednesday two, Tuesday three, Monday three, Sunday three and Saturday four.

Currently, 129 patients are in the intensive care unit with 53 requiring respiratory aid.

CASE DETAILS

According to the details of the new COVID-19 cases reported today, Sabah accounted for 320 cases, 61 of them from existing clusters.

Selangor accounted for 320 cases (including one imported case), out of which 155 were from existing clusters.

Kuala Lumpur reported 256 cases, 241 of which were from existing clusters. It also reported three new clusters, namely Tapak Bina Muda cluster, Tapak Bina Galeri cluster and Bukit Dalam cluster.

The Tapak Bina Muda cluster involves the districts of Titiwangsa, Lembah Pantai and Kepong and has recorded 11 positive cases. The Tapak Bina Galeri cluster involves the districts of Lembah Pantai and Cheras and has 16 cases.

The Bukit Dalam cluster involves Lembah Pantai and has 13 cases.

Johor reported 68 cases, 47 of which were from existing clusters. It reported one new cluster, Cempaka, involving the districts of Kulai and Kluang and has 10 positive cases.

Penang recorded 48 cases, 26 of which were from existing clusters; and Perak 47 cases, 40 of which were from existing cluster. Perak also reported a new cluster, Sungai Cincin, which reported 15 cases.

Kedah has 24 cases, 20 of which were from existing clusters; and Kelantan 20 cases, including 19 from the new Huma cluster.

Negeri Sembilan reported 15 cases; and Pahang 15 cases from two new clusters, Jalan Genting and Atabara.

Labuan reported three cases, Putrajaya two, Perlis one, and Sarawak one imported case.

-- BERNAMA