‘Non-compliance led to virus spread’

Keeping watch: Security guard Mohd Ahmad guarding the gate to the closed SK Hosba, located within the Sivagangga cluster, in Jitra, Kedah. — Bernama

PETALING JAYA: Another new case reported from the Sivagangga cluster further confirms how non-compliance of the Home Surveillance Order (HSO) has led to a widespread transmission of Covid-19 infections, says Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

Based on the HSO that was conducted from June 10 to July 23, there are seven active clusters resulting from this disappointing non-compliance.

They are the Elsa cluster, PUI Novgorod, PUI Pitakwa and PUI Melbourne.

Others are PUI Ramnad, PUI Al Khobar and PUI Shirala.

Dr Noor Hisham said the latest case from the Sivagangga cluster was recorded from a customer of the restaurant which is owned by the man who flouted home quarantine rules.

“The customer did a Covid-19 test at a private healthcare facility on July 27 and the result from the Rapid Test Kit Antibody came back negative.

“On July 31, he had symptoms of fever and cough but he did not contact the district or state health clinic to get treatment.

“Only a day later after being involved in activities related to Hari Raya Aidiladha did the customer inform the authorities that he was a close contact of the index case.

“Following that, an RT-PCR test was done and he was found to be positive for Covid-19.

“He has been admitted to Hospital Sultanah Bahiyah for further treatment, ” he said during his media briefing yesterday.

Dr Noor Hisham said contact tracing from the Sivagangga cluster was made even more difficult for the district and state health departments as the restaurant did not use the MySejahtera app or recorded the information of customers who visited the place.

The restaurant owner had returned to Malaysia from Sivagangga in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu and was placed under the HSO, though he did not comply with the HSO rules.

To date, 425 people have been tested from the Sivagangga cluster, of which 21 tested positive, 362 tested negative while 42 others are still waiting for their results.

When asked about threats directed towards the index case of the Sivagangga cluster, Dr Noor Hisham urged for the public to not take the law into their own hands, noting that action had already been taken against the individual.

Meanwhile, in the Bukit Tiram cluster in Johor, Dr Noor Hisham said based on early investigations, the spread of the virus might have come from a student who had returned from the Philippines.

“We will be conducting targeted approach screening on the Roman Catholic community in Johor, ” he said.

During the press conference yesterday, Dr Noor Hisham noted that Malaysia reported two new Covid-19 cases yesterday, bringing the total infections in the country to 9,001.

He said the cases were local transmissions involving Malaysians.

There is only one positive Covid-19 case being treated in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

Dr Noor Hisham added that four patients were discharged, bringing the total cumulative discharged cases to 8,668.

He added that there were currently 208 active cases being treated at the country’s health facilities.

No deaths were recorded, keeping the death toll at 125.

Separately, as several countries such as Australia, Japan, Vietnam and Hong Kong have seen a spike in cases, Dr Noor Hisham said Malaysia needed to tighten its border controls, although the government was having a discussion to allow a “green lane” entry for certain countries that have been categorised as green zones.

“The discussion can go on but the implementations needed to be looked into based on the situation of the respective country, ” he said.

He added that to combat the spread of the virus, the country also needed to enhance its public health control to contain the local transmission spread.

Dr Noor Hisham stressed again how crucial it was that the public continued to comply with the standard operating procedure (SOP) – to practise physical distancing, use face mask in public areas where distancing is not possible, practise good hygiene as well as to avoid crowded and confined spaces.