MOH identifies six new clusters, declares two closed

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the two clusters ended are the Tuguson cluster in Kota Belud, Sabah and the Seri Gaya cluster involving Kota Kinabalu and Tuaran in Sabah, which takes the number of clusters closed to date to 172.

The six new clusters identified comprised two clusters in Tawau, Sabah, namely Bot Biru cluster and Bot 31 cluster, while there was a cluster each in Johor (Gemilang cluster), Kuala Lumpur (Sungai Udang construction site cluster), Kelantan (Chengal cluster), as well as the Damar Laut cluster in Penang and Kedah.

He said the index case of Bot Biru cluster was reported COVID-19 positive from screening a symptomatic individual on Nov 15 and until yesterday, 23 individuals had been screened in which 17 cases were detected positive in the cluster.

The index case of Blok 31 cluster was reported COVID-19 positive from screening a symptomatic individual on Saturday and as at yesterday, 26 individuals had been tested in which 13 cases were found positive, he said in a statement today.

Dr Noor Hisham said the Gemilang cluster in Johor Bahru involved a logistics company and as at yesterday, 95 individuals had been checked in which 26 were detected positive for COVID-19 in the cluster.

The Sungai Udang construction site cluster involved workers of a construction site in Kepong, Kuala Lumpur and as at yesterday, 196 individuals had been screened in which 11 cases were found positive for COVID-19.

On the Chengal cluster in Kota Bharu and Machang in Kelantan in which the index case was a severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) patient who was reported COVID-19 positive last Saturday.

As at yesterday, 254 individuals had been tested in which 15 cases were found positive for COVID-19 in the cluster.

The Damar Laut cluster involved northeast and southwest districts of Penang as well Padang Terap district in Kedah.

He said the first five cases of the cluster were reported COVID-19 positive from screening symptomatic individuals from Saturday to Tuesday and from testing 651 individuals, 13 positive cases were detected.

From the 173 active clusters, he said 44 clusters reported additional cases.

“The clusters reporting the highest additional new cases today are Bakti cluster, 95 cases, Cergas cluster (48 cases) and Enggor cluster with 43 cases,” he said.