The Health Ministry (MOH) identified four new COVID-19 clusters today involving the Pitakwa person under investigation (PUI), Shirala PUI, Kuching Medical Centre and Jupiter, said Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah (picture).

He said the index cases for the four clusters comprised two Malaysians and two non-citizens.

The Pitakwa PUI cluster index case is a Malaysian (case 8,737) who returned from Nigeria on July 11 but tested negative for COVID-19 on arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).

However, the individual developed severe symptoms three days later and was admitted to Hospital Hulu Terengganu after a repeat COVID-19 test turned out positive, said Dr Noor Hisham.

“Following that, 44 close contacts were identified and screened, especially family members, passengers and crews of the aircraft, taxi driver and colleagues. Of this number, two were found positive (cases 8,754 and 8,755), three were negative and the rest are awaiting their test results,” he said in a statement today.