Four new clusters, two involving construction sites in KL - Health DG

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the two clusters were Kiara Construction Site Cluster and Perkasa Construction Site Cluster that were identified through targeted screenings at the construction sites.

“Kiara Construction Site Cluster involves Kepong district in Kuala Lumpur, with the first positive case detected on Dec 21 through targeted screening at a construction site. A total of 372 individuals were screened and 13 cases were identified COVID-19 positive,” he said in a statement today.

“Perkasa Construction Site Cluster involves Cheras district in Kuala Lumpur with the positive cases being reported from Dec 22 through targeted screening at a construction site. A total of 451 individuals were screened and 11 were found to be COVID-19 positive,” he said.

Dr Noor Hisham said the two other clusters were Cassia Diamond Cluster involving Selangor and Penang as well as Pompod Cluster in Sabah.

Cassia Diamond Cluster involves the districts of Klang, Kuala Langat, Hulu Langat, Kuala Selangor and Gombak in Selangor as well as the Barat Daya district in Penang. The index case for this cluster (the 99,203rd case) was reported positive on Dec 24, and thus far 76 individuals have been screened with 25 cases being COVID-19 positive.

“For the Pompod Cluster, it involves Kota Belud and Kudat in Sabah and the index case for this cluster (the 82,544th case) was reported positive on Dec 13, with 216 individuals screened so far and 19 cases detected as COVID-19 positive,” he said.

Dr Noor Hisham said six clusters ended today, namely Tanamera Cluster, Jalan Kalabakan Cluster, Seri Terapi Cluster, Seri Pasir Cluster, Astaka Cluster and Tembaga Cluster.

Meanwhile, he said the Health Ministry (MOH) conducted an online survey about new norms from Nov 25 to 30 involving 36,841 respondents.

“The results of the survey showed that the majority of respondents always practise COVID-19 preventive measures, including 93.3 per cent of them wearing face masks, physical distancing (89.6 per cent), and washing hands with water and soap or hand sanitisers (89.7 per cent).

“Survey results also indicated that 93.8 per cent of respondents were willing to ask family members to wear face masks, to ask family members to practise physical distancing (90.1 per cent) and to ask family members to wash hands with water and soap or hand sanitiser (90.8 per cent),” he added.

When it came to friends, 82.2 per cent of respondents said they were willing to ask their friends to wear face masks; willing to ask their friends to practise physical distancing (79.4 per cent) and willing to ask their friends to wash their hands with water and soap or hand sanitiser (79.2 per cent).

Dr Noor Hisham said, however, if it involved strangers, only 57.3 per cent of respondents would ask them to wear face masks; to practise physical distancing (59.6 per cent) and to wash their hands with water and soap or hand sanitiser (56.7 per cent).

“The results of the survey is a very positive and encouraging finding that shows the Malaysian public have a high level of self-regulation.

“All change begins with ourselves and it is the first step in all successes, including successfully overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic. Let us continue to work together to stop the spread of this virus,” he said.