COVID-19: MOH detects 46 cross-state clusters

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said there were 14 clusters recorded in April this year alone.

Citing the Pasai Cluster in Sarawak, he said the index case had gone to Sarawak from Johor Bahru following the death of his father, and caused 2,693 other cases there despite being confirmed negative during the screening test prior to his departure.

"It also resulted in 29 deaths and infected 58 other longhouses. This is what we are worried about if it is cross-state or -district," he said during a press conference on the COVID-19 situation today.

He said if cross-state or cross-district movements were allowed, it was feared that the infection could spread further within the community.

Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham said the MOH expected the number of COVID-19 cases to exceed 5,000 per day, by the end of May.

He said the nationwide average infectivity rate or Ro/Rt of the disease based on the daily cases as of yesterday was 1.10.

Commenting on the fatalities due to the pandemic, he said as of yesterday, 85 per cent of the 1,390 deaths in the country involved senior citizens aged 50 and above, while 64 per cent (1,045) involved men.

"18 per cent died outside the hospital while 89 per cent had non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure and so on. A total of 87 per cent of the deaths were in stages four and five (of the infection) which requires respiratory assistance," he said.

Dr Noor Hisham said 1,161 deaths were recorded so far this year, more than double the 471 deaths recorded the whole of last year.

Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham said from Jan 1 to May 7, a total of 138 clusters with 9,330 cases were recorded involving educational institutions under the Ministry of Education (MOE), private educational institutions registered under the MOE, higher education institutions, as well as others.

He said of the total, MOE educational institutions recorded the highest number of clusters with 72, involving 3,520 cases, followed by other educational institutions with 41 clusters (3,647 cases).

Higher education institutions recorded 23 clusters with 2,102 cases, and private educational institutions registered with the MOE had two clusters with 61 cases.