COVID-19: Two clusters connected to religious assembly, wedding

Two clusters closely connected to a large gathering of people have been identified as contributing factors to the drastic increase in the number of positive COVID-19 cases, said Health Director-General Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

He said investigations conducted by the Health Ministry found that the two clusters involved a religious assembly in Kuching, Sarawak and a wedding in Bandar Baru Bangi, Selangor.

He said the religious programme was held for three days in a church.

“So far, 83 people have been confirmed positive for COVID-19 were from this cluster, with two deaths (case number 358 and case number 2471), five critical cases are in the intensive care unit, and 50 are being treated in hospital.

“Meanwhile 24 cases are under observation in the quarantine centre while one case has been discharged after full recovery,” he said in the daily press conference on COVID-19 at the Health Ministry today.

Dr Noor Hisham said in the case of the wedding cluster, it was a cluster of COVID-19 infections which later developed into fifth generation infections.

“As of April 6, 2020, 88 cases have been confirmed positive for COVID-19 from this cluster, including one case which is being treated in the intensive care unit. However, there were no deaths reported linked to this cluster,” he said.

He said both clusters involved fifth generation COVID-29 infections.

For the record, these two clusters were among the largest clusters linked to large gatherings after the Sri Petaling assembly in Sri Petaling Kuala Lumpur.

Dr Noor Hisham urged the public not to blame or discriminate any patient or group of people connected to clusters of COVID-19 infections.

“Do not stigmatise them. What is important is that we help to detect and treat COVID-19 infections among those affected, their families and contacts,” he said.

- BERNAMA