COVID-19: New river cluster detected in Kedah

A new COVID-19 cluster, known as River Cluster, has been detected in Kedah, involving an index case who is a healthcare worker at a medical centre in the state.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the index case (Case 9,455) was symptomatic since Aug 30 but did not seek any treatment and the COVID-19 test done on the patient on Sept 5, came out positive.

"The second case of the cluster (Case 9,456) is another healthcare worker at a medical centre in Kedah, a close contact of the index case, was symptomatic since Sept 5, had sought treatment at the same medical centre and was tested positive of COVID-19.

"The two cases were admitted to the Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital, Alor Setar for isolation and treatment," he said in a statement on the latest development of COVID-19 in the country, here today.

Following the detection of the new cluster, Dr Noor Hisham said active case screening and close contact screening had been conducted involving 57 people as of today.

He said of the total, two were tested positive, while the other 55 were awaiting results.

Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham also tweeted that the monitoring and surveillance on four COVID-19 clusters had ended today, namely the Sivagangga Patient Under Investigation (PUI) Cluster, Muda Cluster, Meranti Cluster and Kurau Cluster.

The Sivagangga PUI Cluster recorded 45 cases, Muda Cluster (three cases), Meranti Cluster (two cases) and Kurau Cluster (five cases).

-- BERNAMA