Malaysians are barred from crossing state borders during the upcoming Deepavali festival which will be celebrated on Nov 14

by S BIRRUNTHA / pic by TMR FILE

THE Ministry of Health (MoH) identified five new Covid-19 clusters yesterday, involving the states of Sabah, Selangor, Penang and Kuala Lumpur (KL).

Health DG Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the clusters are namely Sutera and Ria-30 in Sabah, Tamar in Selangor, Intan in Penang and Danau in KL.

He added that all the clusters were detected as a result of symptomatic individual screening, community screening and also screening of foreigners before returning to their country of origin.

“The Sutera cluster was detected in Kota Kinabalu and so far, it has infected 15 individuals. Whereas, the Ria-30 cluster was detected in Tuaran involving 11 positive cases.

“The Tamar cluster was detected in Petaling and has infected 10 individuals, while the Intan cluster found in the north east district of Penang has nine positive cases, so far,” he said in his Covid-19 press conference yesterday.

Dr Noor Hisham said the remaining cluster, which was known as the Danau cluster, was detected in the Titiwangsa district and it had already infected eight individuals.

As of yesterday, the country recorded a total of 1,009 new Covid-19 cases, involving 1,000 local transmission and nine import cases.

Dr Noor Hisham said the nine import cases yesterday were recorded from the countries of India, Indonesia, South Korea, Nigeria, South Africa, Mexico and Cambodia.

As for the local transmissions, Sabah still recorded the highest number of cases at 564 cases, followed by Selangor (177 cases), Labuan (92 cases), Negri Sembilan (90 cases) and Penang (36 cases).

KL recorded 14 new Covid-19 cases yesterday, followed by single-digit cases in Kedah, Sarawak, Perak, Melaka, Johor and Putrajaya.

Dr Noor Hisham said the country recorded six Covid-19 deaths yesterday, involving several districts in Sabah and Selangor.

He said this brings the cumulative number of deaths in the country to 277 cases.

He added that the deceased comprises five patients in Sabah and one in Selangor.

“Four of them were locals and two were foreigners, all between the ages of 54 and 92. All the patients suffered from pre-existing medical conditions,” he said.

The increase in new cases yesterday brought the country’s overall total to 36,434.

There are now 10,503 active Covid-19 cases that are being treated at health facilities nationwide.

Among the active cases yesterday, 78 patients were placed in the intensive care unit, with 28 of them requiring respiratory aid.

On the other hand, 839 patients were discharged yesterday, increasing the total recovered cases in the country to 25,654, which equals to 70.4%.

Meanwhile, Malaysians are barred from crossing state borders during the upcoming Deepavali festival which will be celebrated on Nov 14.

Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the announcement was aimed at those who are intending to return to their respective villages or hometowns for the celebration.

He added that this is also a part of the standard operating procedures (SOPs) developed by the National Security Council for Deepavali this year.

“Those living in areas under the Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) or the Conditional MCO (CMCO) will not be allowed to cross subdistrict, district, and state borders to return to their hometown.

“However, only Hindu devotees under the CMCO and Recovery MCO (RMCO) areas will be allowed to attend prayers in temples on the first day of Deepavali,” he said in a press conference yesterday.

He added that not more than 30 devotees will be allowed in the temple at any one time and the temples will be open from 7am to noon, with the premises being sanitised every 30 minutes between prayer sessions.

He said people with critical illnesses, senior citizens and those under the age of 12 are not encouraged to attend the prayers.

Ismail Sabri also said there will be limits to the number of visitors allowed at the homes of those celebrating, with celebrations at landed properties limited to no more than 20 people at a time.

While, he said those living in condominiums smaller than 1,500 sq ft can host up to 10 people and those in properties larger than 1,500 sq ft can host up to 15 people.

Meanwhile, the minister also announced that three subdistricts in Perak, Terengganu and Negri Sembilan will be placed under CMCO starting tomorrow, following the increase in Covid-19 cases.

He said the subdistricts are Rasau in Dungun, Terengganu; Parit Buntar in Perak; and Jimah in Port Dickson, Negri Sembilan. The CMCO will be enforced from Nov 7 to Nov 20.

Additionally, he also said the government has placed Tawau temporary detention centre, Sandakan Prison and Taman Wira prison quarters in Sabah under EMCO, following the rise of Covid-19 cases in the areas.

On another note, Ismail Sabri said the police had arrested 506 individuals for violating the RMCO regulations on Nov 4.

Under Ops Benteng, the authorities had arrested 41 illegal immigrants, including two smugglers, and seized five land vehicles.