by S BIRRUNTHA / pic by BERNAMA

THE Ministry of Health (MoH) has identified two new Covid-19 clusters in Selangor and Penang yesterday.

Health DG Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the “Bah Puchong” cluster was identified in Petaling, Selangor and Larut, Matang and Selama, as well as Kinta in Perak.

According to him, the three index cases for this cluster were positively identified with Covid-19 on Oct 5 as a result of screening returnees from high-risk areas, namely Sabah.

“All three of them were admitted to Sungai Buloh Hospital.

“As of noon yesterday, a total of 66 individuals were screened, in which 12 individuals were screened in Selangor and 27 individuals were screened in Perak,” he said in a statement.

Of the total, he said five tested positive, while the remaining are waiting for results.

Dr Noor Hisham said the other cluster “Penjara Reman” which was identified yesterday originated from the northeast district of Penang.

He noted that the cluster’s index case is the 141st death case where he was an 85-year-old Malaysian man who was found unconscious on Monday in the prison.

As of noon yesterday, Dr Noor Hisham said a total of 286 individuals were screened with seven cases tested positive, 78 tested negative and 201 individuals still awaiting results.

He added that the cause of infection for both of these clusters are still under investigation.

Malaysia records 489 new Covid-19 cases, involving 487 local transmissions and two import cases as of yesterday noon.

Dr Noor Hisham said the local cases involved 457 infections among citizens and the remaining 20 were non-citizens.

He added that the highest cases of local transmissions were recorded in Sabah with 282 cases, followed by Kedah (153) and Selangor (20).

Dr Noor Hisham said the remaining local cases were recorded in Penang with seven cases, Perak and Terengganu (4), Kuala Lumpur and Sarawak (3), Pahang and Putrajaya (2), and one case each in Negri Sembilan and Kelantan.

For the two imported cases yesterday, he said both returnees were from India and Maldives respectively.

On the 10 active clusters, the Tembok cluster had the highest increase with 139 new cases.

The increase in new cases yesterday brought the country’s overall total to 13,993.

There are now 3,351 active Covid-19 cases that are being treated at health facilities nationwide.

Among the active cases yesterday, 40 were placed in the intensive care unit, with 18 of them requiring respiratory aid.

Whereas, 74 patients were discharged yesterday, increasing the total recovered cases in the country to 10,501, which equals to 75%.

No new deaths were recorded, as the country’s death tally remained at 141 yesterday.