KUALA LUMPUR:The Ministry of Health (MOH) has detected eight more new COVID-19 clusters today, three in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur and one each in Selangor, Johor, Pahang, Kedah and Perak.

Health director-general, Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the new development brings the total clusters in Malaysia to 506 and there are 223 active clusters being monitored.

In Kuala Lumpur, he said the first of eight clusters was the Jalan Stesen construction site cluster involving transmission at the workplace in Lembah Pantai district.

“The first case of the cluster (case number 94863) was reported positive for COVID-19 on Dec 21 through screening of a symptomatic individual and up to today, 607 individuals have been screened with 54 found positive,” he said in a statement in COVID-19 development here today.

The Slot Berjaya cluster which also involved infection at the workplace in the same district, was detected via targeted screening today and at the moment, 44 individuals have been screened with nine positive cases reported.

The third cluster, Jalan Nikolas cluster was detected in Titiwangsa district involving the index case (case number 107921) who was reported COVID-19 positive on Dec 29 from screening at the workplace, and to date, 54 individuals had been screened with six found positive for the disease.

In Johor, the Tembok Choh cluster was detected involving the districts of Johor Bahru, Pontian, Kota Tinggi, Kulai, and Mersing from targeted screenings at a detention centre since Dec 24 and to date, 1,020 individuals had been screened with 382 positive cases.

Meanwhile, in Selangor, Dr Noor Hisham said the Broga construction site cluster was detected in Hulu Langat involving transmission at the workplace.

“The positive case was reported on Dec 27 from targeted screenings at the construction site and to date 318 individuals had been screened with 64 of them found COVID-19 positive,” he said.

The Gerbang Pongsu cluster was found in Kerian and Kinta districts in Perak with the index case (case number 100,176) reported positive on Dec 24 from screening a symptomatic individual and till today, 53 individuals had been screened with eight positive cases.

In Pahang, the Damai Ketari cluster which involved the district of Bentong, the index case (case number 108,567) reported positive yesterday from testing of a symptomatic individual and now 65 individuals had been screened with 21 found positive.

The last cluster,  the Alor cluster involved the district of Kota Setar in Kedah as well as the districts of Titiwangsa and Cheras in Kuala Lumpur.

“The index case for the cluster (case number 101128) was reported COVID-19 positive on Dec 25 via testing an individual with symptoms. So far, 33 individuals had been screened with 20 cases detected positive,” he said.

In this regard, five clusters were declared closed and they are Sungai Mulia construction site cluster, Kuala Lumpur; Assumption cluster, Penang; Blok 31 cluster in Sabah as well as the Tanjung Bunga cluster and the Jeri cluster in Johor.

-- BERNAMA