KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 398,846 COVID-19 infections out of the 578,105 reported in the country from Jan 1 to June 19 this year were sporadic cases, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said.

The states with the highest number of sporadic infections were Selangor with 151,725 cases, followed by Kuala Lumpur (44,517) and Sarawak (40,889), he said.

Despite the Movement Control Order (MCO) 3.0 announced on May 12 having curbed further increase of new clusters in the 24th Epidemiological Week (June 13-19), sporadic cases have not seen a significant drop, Dr Noor Hisham said.

"Sporadic cases mean cases that are detected in the community and cannot be linked to any existing cluster. These sporadic cases are detected through screening in the workplace, screening in the community, or from the screening of symptomatic cases.

"What is more worrying is that most of the sporadic cases are asymptomatic but can still infect anyone around them who does not properly adhere to standard operating procedures (SOPs)," he said in a statement today.

Dr Noor Hisham said the Klang Valley, which covers Kuala Lumpur and its outskirts as well as towns and cities in Selangor, recorded the highest number of sporadic cases in Malaysia during the 24th Epidemiological Week.

The three districts with the highest number of sporadic infections were Petaling with 3,905 cases, Hulu Langat (2,783 cases) and Klang with 2,482 cases.

"The implications from this is that the Klang Valley area, which has a high population density, is not only exposed to the danger of having many sporadic cases in the community but in that most of the COVID-19 cases have no symptoms.

"In other words, it is difficult to know who has COVID-19 among us. Therefore, it is very important for everyone to take note of this matter and protect themselves and their families from the dangers of COVID-19," he said.

In this regard, Dr Noor Hisham called on the community to keep complying with the SOPs and to adopt self-imposed public health measures to address the increase in sporadic and asymptomatic COVID-19 cases, especially in crowded and high-risk areas.

-- BERNAMA