435 cases were from clusters with 206 from Damanlela construction site

by HARIZAH KAMEL / graphic by MZUKRI MOHAMAD

THE Klang Valley continued to record a high number of Covid-19 cases in the country with 518 yesterday, with 206 cases involving foreign workers at the Damanlela construction site.

“The Klang Valley recorded 518 positive cases, of which 435 cases were from clusters. A total of 206 cases reported in Kuala Lumpur (KL) were from the Damanlela construction site cluster, all involving non-citizens,” Health DG Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a statement yesterday.

“A total of 142 cases reported in Selangor were from the Teratai cluster involving 131 non-citizens. Both of these clusters are clusters involving workplaces,” he added.

Dr Noor Hisham said of the 162 active clusters reported, 72 clusters are related to workplaces, including the four new clusters.

“The recent increase in cases in the Klang Valley is due to an increase in workplace-related cases due to the fact that the three areas are the focus of workers. Population density in these states is also one of the risk factors for increased rates of infection or transmission of the disease,” he added.

Malaysia’s number of new infections remained at four figures with a total of 1,210 cases reported yesterday. Of the total, 19 were import cases, bringing the country’s total number of cases to 49,730.

The number of active cases was 12,788, and five new clusters were identified, namely Avenue cluster and Kejora cluster in Penampang and Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, respectively; Kasah cluster in Kepong, KL; Summer cluster in Timur Laut, Penang; and Mengketil cluster in Kelantan and Terengganu.

Sabah recorded 499 cases with the Sandakan Prison cluster contributing 122 cases, while 106 cases were from the new cluster, Avenue.

Negri Sembilan reported 67 new cases, Perak (47) and Penang (33).

The number of recoveries saw an increase with 1,018 cured cases, while five more deaths were recorded, bringing the total number of fatalities to 318.

To date, there are 105 positive cases being treated in the intensive care unit, of which 40 cases require respiratory assistance.

Additionally, five clusters have ended, namely Bangau-Bangau cluster, Tasik cluster, Olive cluster, Buang Sayang cluster and Kau Sing cluster.

Separately, Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said a total of 517 individuals were arrested yesterday for violating the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO). Of that number, 467 individuals were compounded, while 50 were remanded.

“Among the offences were failure to practice physical distancing (187), not wearing face mask (83), failure to provide equipment to record customers’ details (63), activities at entertainment centres (56), gambling activities (42), interstate or inter-district travel in CMCO areas without permission (37) and others (49),” he said in a statement yesterday.

On Ops Benteng, 51 illegal immigrants and two smugglers were detained, while three boats and three vehicles were seized.

From July 24 until Nov 16, a total of 69,443 individuals arrived at all international entrances and were placed in 69 hotels and 22 other premises.

From the total figure, 10,386 individuals were undergoing mandatory quarantine, while 396 individuals were sent to the hospital for treatment. The remaining 58,661 individuals were discharged and allowed to return home.