Teratai Cluster: MOH detects 150 COVID-19 community infections

PUTRAJAYA: The Ministry of Health (MOH) has detected 150 COVID-19 positive cases which have been identified as community infection resulting from the Teratai Cluster, said Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

He said the MOH had so far conducted 6,609 screenings in the cluster, with 5,083 positive cases detected.

"To date, an estimated 150 positive cases have been detected at the community level and outside the Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) area involving the Teratai Cluster," he told a press conference on COVID-19 development here today.

He said the transmission from the Teratai Cluster had developed into a second generation of infections, where local workers who tested positive also infected their family members and social contacts.

He added that the MOH began carrying out community-level screening in Meru, Klang today using the rapid test kit (RTK)-Antigen and hoped that it would be able to curb the spread of infection among the community under the cluster.

In another development, Dr Noor Hisham said the MOH was considering requests from Selangor and Negeri Sembilan, who have seen a spike in COVID-19 cases, to recall all their health personnel who have been temporarily deployed to Sabah.

"We see that there is a downward trend in Sabah now, so maybe we will consider bringing them back to their respective states to help with case detection and risk assessment," he said.

He said the MOH was also cooperating with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) like the Imam Response and Relief Team (IMARET), Mercy Malaysia and Malaysian Red Crescent Society to help expedite screening on the field, especially in Selangor.

Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham refuted allegations that there were insufficient beds in government hospitals for non-COVID-19 patients because level three to level five COVID-19 patients are being treated there.

"Only a small number of patients are admitted to hospitals, with those at level three making up 4.2 per cent, level four 1.7 per cent and level five 0.6 per cent. So, we really have no problems treating non-COVID-19 patients," he said.

He added that symptomatic as well as asymptomatic patients at levels one and two were placed at Low-Risk Quarantine and Treatment Centres.

"Even before the pandemic hit the country, our hospitals were already crowded and what's important is the level of management," he said, adding that only 45 out of the 147 hospitals nationwide were turned into hybrid hospitals treating both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients.

-- BERNAMA